The Metro
by ChandaK562
Summary: Director Fury and his senior agents are taking the Metro back from a meeting in Washington. What could possibly go wrong with that?
1. Chapter 1

"Where is my car?" Nick Fury demanded as he stared at the space where he was sure he had parked his car, at the Watergate where he had been called with his senior agents for meetings.

"I knew carpooling was a bad idea." Maria Hill muttered as she pulled out her phone and activated the tracking device for the director's car. It had been been bad enough sharing the front seat with the director, with Phil stuffed between them, and Victoria and John in back with Felix and Jasper crammed between them like sardines, and now this. She had warned the director this might happen, after the last time he drove his car to the Watergate. And yes, there it was. "There's your car. In the impound lot. In the crusher. Should I arrange for someone to pick up your new cube?"

"You know, normally, if someone's going to harass me about my car, it's when I'm in my car." Fury grumbled.

"To be honest, if the officer who keeps towing your car saw you in your car, he would probably know that you aren't the man with 135 unpaid traffic citations that he's looking for." Maria said. "He's 4'9", white, weighs about 80 pounds and is a dentist. Not hard to figure out you're not him."

"Excuse me, but how are we going to get back to the Triskelion?" Felix asked. "I really need to get back to the Sandbox." As he talked, the group moved out to the street, to try to figure out what to do. "Should I call us a cab?"

"The cabs aren't moving, though." Jasper said as he looked at the street. Vehicles were everywhere, not moving an inch, and the cabs he could see were packed full of politicians.

"My team's at the Museum of Science and Industry. I could call them and ask them to come pick us up." Phil offered.

"Aren't there five other people on your team?" Maria said. Five plus the seven of them, there wouldn't even be room to breathe in the Shield Issue vehicle.

"We're taking the Metro." Seven people, how much was the fare for that going to be?

"We're taking the what?" Victoria demanded. Not that she didn't know what the Metro was, but surely Fury was joking about expecting them to travel on it. Her last trip via public transportation had been in Lisbon during her assignment with John Garrett, and she cringed inwardly, recalling how that trip had ended. "Why don't we go back inside and have drinks? The traffic should clear soon."

"We're taking the Metro." Fury said, waving for them to follow him as he headed for the nearest station.

"What about walking?" Victoria suggested as Fury worked the machine to purchase seven fare cards. "Some of us could stand to walk off a few pounds." she said with a pointed look at John.

"I'm not sure how you can even walk around the Hub in shoes like that." Maria said with a pointed look at Victoria's feet.

"We are taking the Metro." Fury repeated. And he was halfway tempted to demand they all hold hands.

"Vic, it won't be so bad. Remember Lisbon? That was fun." John said as Fury herded his agents towards the platform.

"We will not be repeating Lisbon. There will be no pushing or shoving, people." Fury ordered. "There's a third rail down there I DO NOT want anyone falling on. Everyone stay together. Phil, you stick with Felix and Jasper, Hill you're with me and…." Before he could consider the potential disaster that assigning Victoria and John to be paired off could lead to, the Metro train was pulling into the station, and the rush hour crowd was surging forward.

"Tell me everyone got on." Fury pushed Maria into the last vacant seat and grabbed the handrail as the train jerked into motion. He could see Phil with Felix and Blake towards the front, but where were Victoria and John?

"In the back." Maria said as she turned around to look for the other two agents. "Looks like Victoria might be changing her mind about the Metro. She's talking to a girl who looks like she gets her hair done at the same place. Do you think those streaks are some symbol of… Wait, why am I asking someone without hair, hair related questions?"

Perfect. All of his agents were on the train where they belonged. This was going to work out fine. Take the Metro and then it was just a short walk from the nearest stop to the Triskelion.

"Sir?" His plans for an easy trip were disrupted ten minutes later when Phil eased his way back to join them. "I don't really know the Metro system, but isn't the Triskelion on the other side of the Potomac? Are we going the wrong way?"

Fury closed his eyes. A transfer. They had somehow missed a transfer. They would have to turn around and go back, and they would be lucky not to loose Victoria and John to a bar in Crystal City, Victoria for drinks with her new friend, and John just for drinks. And as for Felix and Jasper….

Before he could finish that thought, the train suddenly jerked to a stop as they were plunged into darkness.

"Coulson, your team did this!" Victoria called from the back of the car. "They touched something at that museum, and they've caused a blackout!"

"They…" Coulson stopped as his phone beeped, and he pulled it out to see multiple messages coming in from Skye.

_We didn't do it no matter what Agent Hand is trying to say! We didn't touch anything! We were just looking at the exhibits when all of the power went out!_

_Fitz thinks something might have exploded at a power station, or there might have been some sort of power cascade somewhere along the lines that took down the grid._

_The museum's dark, the street's dark, the traffic lights are going nuts, not that traffic was moving anyway._

_But we're fine._

_Except for Ward, who was knocked down by a two year old when the power first went out._

_Jemma thinks he doesn't need to go to the emergency room, though. She says that she can fix the fracture to his collarbone when we get back to the BUS._

_But we've managed to lose May and she had the keys, so we're not sure of how to get back to the BUS._

_Where are you?_

"It isn't just the train. It looks like the power failure goes at least as far as the museum." Coulson said. And with a power failure that extensive, he had a feeling they were going to be there for awhile.


	2. Chapter 2

"That's a big area to be blacked out." Coulson said to Fury. "The middle of Washington proper out to Arlington? We are in Arlington, right?"

"We passed Pentagon City and Crystal City. We're definitely in Arlington." Maria said. Coulson was right, that was a big area to lose power at once.

"Can your girl tell how far the blackout's gone?" Fury pulled out his own phone and tried to dial the Triskelion but couldn't get a signal. "Why's your phone working?"

Texts, not calls out, and I let Fitz play with it one day. If it makes you feel better, I now have bagpipes for a ringtone." Coulson said as he typed a message to Skye.

_I'm on the Metro, somewhere past Crystal City, with Director Fury and the other senior agents. Skye, do you know how far the blackout goes?_

The Metro? Skye looked at her phone, confused at what Coulson had just typed. Hadn't he left with the other senior agents packed into the Director's car?

_Didn't you leave for your meeting in Director Fury's car? I clearly recall seeing you in the front seat between Fury and Maria Hill. Why are you on the Metro?_

_We ran into car trouble. Skye, please focus. How far does the blackout go?_

_Car trouble? And between our seven senior agents, not one of you could think to call AAA? Just a second and I'll check with Fitz. He went to check the parking lot for May. Maybe he knows._

"Hey, Fitz!" Skye almost tripped a couple of times before she reached the engineer, who was watching as Jemma finished fastening a sling out of Fitz's sweater for Ward's arm to keep him from moving it too much and making his fractured collarbone worse before they could get him to the BUS. "When you were outside, was anyone saying anything about how far this thing goes? I got a message through to AC and he wants to know."

"Someone was talking about Bethesda being hit. Where is Agent Coulson? And does he have any idea of what we ought to be doing now?"

"He's stuck on the Metro with the rest of the senior agents and Director Fury. I'll ask him what he wants us to do." Although Skye wasn't sure how they would manage to do anything, with no transport, May vanished, and Ward with a broken bone.

_AC, Fitz heard something about the blackout going as far as Bethesda? What do you want the four of us to do? And remember that May has the keys and has vanished, and Ward has a broken bone._

"Bethesda, that's not good." Jasper said as he and Blake joined the group, and he caught sight of the message on Coulson's phone.

"I'm still not sure that your team isn't to blame for this." Victoria added as she and John approached as well.

"Just because they were in a science museum, that does not mean that they could have done something to cause a massive blackout." Coulson said. "Any ideas for what to tell them to do?"

"Besides not touching anything, you mean?" Victoria said.

"Tell them to get to the Triskelion." Fury said. "We should have auxiliary power running there. I want to know what caused this blackout!" Something covering that wide of an area, he knew that it could very well be accidental, but he wanted to be completely sure. This was Washington, after all.

_Skye, can the four of you get to the Triskellion? And how did you lose May?_

Get to the Triskelion. That would be a long walk, especially with how nuts things looked on the street and Ward's injury.

_Maybe. We could try. As for May, we don't know where she went. Fitz thinks maybe outside to try to find out what was going on, but when he looked out, he couldn't find her._

"Hey, is everyone alright in here?" a voice called as Skye clicked send.

"Oh, my!" Jemma's looked up and her eyes went wide at the man who had just entered the room. "You're Captain America! Fitz, look!"

Ward looked up too , and then ducked his head and wished that he could either sink into the floor or die when he saw the redhead behind Captain Rogers. The Black Widow, and he had just been taken down by a two year old.

"Steve Rogers. Are all of you alright?"

"Sorry, they're a little awestruck. and embarrassing." Skye said as she came over, although she was probably just as awestruck and was barely fighting the temptation to ask the Captain to sign a few things for AC's birthday. "I'm Skye and my three friends here are Agents Fitz, Simmons and Ward. Do you have any idea what's going on with the blackout?"

"The four of you are Shield?" Romanoff asked.

"We were just taking a tour while our boss was in meetings with the other senior agents." Skye replied since it seemed like her three friends were still incapable of talking. "So, any idea what might be going on?"

"Not a clue. I've been trying to raise Director Fury with no luck." Romanoff said.

"That might be a little hard, since he's stuck in a Metro train with our boss and the rest of the senior staff." Skye told them. "AC said something about getting to the Triskelion, since they would have auxiliary power."

"That might be a good idea. We could get together teams to help back-up the police until the power is restored." Steve hated to leave the heart of the town with all of this trouble, and people possibly in danger, but getting back-up was probably the best option. "Can your friend walk?"

"Up you get, Robot." Skye muttered when Ward didn't seem inclined to move. She knelt and grabbing his good arm, she tugged him to his feet and the four of them followed after Steve and Natasha as they headed for the nearest door.

They were only ten feet away when the door swung open and a man was shoved in, a backpack tossed after him, and then May appearing without a hair out of place.

"We've got a problem." she said. "I saw him acting suspiciously and followed him into one of the Metro stations. The backpack has a bomb. I disarmed it, but he had a radio and from what I heard, I'm guessing he has friends."

"The Metro station? We have a bigger problem." Skye said. "AC texted me. He's on one of the Metro trains with Director Fury and the rest of the senior agents." On a Metro train that might be about to be blown up. Oh, this was not good!


	3. Chapter 3

"They're on the Metro?" May said as she looked from the man who was unconscious on the floor to Skye. What was Phil doing on the Metro? Fury had driven them to their meeting.

"He said they ran into car trouble." Skye said. They're somewhere past Crystal City, wherever that is."

"That's the wrong line if they were heading back to the Triskelion, and I'll bet Fury got his car towed again." Natasha said. "Can you contact them again? We need to let Fury know what's going on."

"Right, because they're going to be so thrilled to know they're about to be blown up. Agent Hand will probably try to find a way to say that's our fault too." Skye muttered as she started to type.

_AC, good news, May's back._

_Bad news, she disappeared for awhile because she spotted some suspicious looking guy. Turns out he was trying to get into one of the Metro stations with a bomb. May thinks he might have friends, also with bombs._

_But we just met Captain America and the Black Widow. They seem nice. They want to know what Director Fury needs them to do. Can you ask him?_

_And tell Agent Hand this is NOT our fault!_

"A bomb?" Coulson said under his breath as Fury and the others leaned in closer to see the message. This was something they definitely didn't want anyone else in their car finding out about. There had to be over 50 people in their car alone. If they panicked, someone would get killed for sure.

"Okay. Okay. May caught one of them. Any idea of where he was headed, or where his friends might be going?" Fury said.

_Skye, does May have any idea of where these people might be? I'm assuming the one she found is too unconscious at the moment for interrogation._

"I heard them mentioning stops on the Orange Line." May said as she read over Skye's shoulder while trying to remember what she could of the Metro maps she had seen. Where were Coulson and the others in relation to that? Blue or Yellow Line?

_Orange Line, I'm assuming you have a map and might know what that means. What do we need to do? Should we be heading to get you out?_

Orange Line. Not the line they were on, but there was no guarantee that more bombers weren't targeting their line as well.

Hey!" a man called from one of the window seats in the middle of the car. "I think I saw someone moving out there! Hey!" He pounded on the window. "Help! Get us out of here!"

The agents exchanged a look. Police or transit authorities wouldn't be in the tunnels this fast, trying to walk people out. They would be focused on getting the power back on and the Metro moving again.

_We might have some here with a bomb too. Someone just heard movement outside our car._

"At least two." Victoria called as she and Jasper elbowed their way to the window and peered out into the dark, looking for movement.

_Correction, we've got at least two out here._

And what were they going to do? Getting out of the car and confronting their attackers, whoever they were, with live bombs and hundreds of civilians didn't seem like the brightest idea. And did they even have the weapons to take these people down? Phil knew he had only his sidearm, and one back-up.

"We can't evacuate these people if we don't know where the enemy is." Felix said. "Has anyone confirmed locations for anyone besides the one May took out?"

_Skye, there are a few hundred people on this train with us. If we try to get them out, where would be a safe location to move them to?_

Safe location. "Any suggestions for a safe location?" Skye asked. "This is my first trip to Washington. I don't have a clue."

"If there are bombers in the tunnels…" Natasha ran over the situation, trying to think of a workable plan.

"They're probably between Crystal City and the airport. There aren't many options there." May added. "At least not many options to move hundreds of panicking people.

"What we need is to get eyes into those tunnels." Fitz said. "We need the DWARFS from the BUS."

"DWARFS?" Steve asked.

"Small flying robots, with viewing and listening capabilities." Fitz said. But how long would it take them to get to the BUS to retrieve them?

"Tell me what you need." Natasha said as she pulled out her phone and dialed. "Barton, we've got a problem. I need you to retrieve something for me, and get it on a flight into city. What do I need to tell him to look for?" She asked Fitz.

"It's in the Mobile Command Center, in our lab." Fitz said.

"He can't miss it. Fitz put a sign on it just yesterday that said 'Quiet, Dwarves Sleeping'." Jemma added.

"Did you get that, Barton? Get that thing, and get it down here yesterday. We'll meet you on the lawn by the Washington Monument. And put the Triskelion on alert. We have bombers on the Metro lines, and Director Fury and the senior agents are trapped in there."

_AC, someone's bringing the DWARFS from the BUS. We're going to try sending them into the lines to see what's going on. What else can we do?_

"Can you have her get a description of the bomb May found?" John asked quietly. "If we can't move these people out of here, the best option might be disarming them."

Victoria visibly winced at the idea of John disarming a bomb while she was anywhere in the area. "This is going to be Lisbon all over, isn't it?"

"Vic, don't worry. What are the odds you'll get set on fire again?" John said with a laugh.


	4. Chapter 4

"Isn't that Hawkeye?" Skye whispered to May as the helicopter touched down on the lawn, and the agent in question jumped out, the turned to help two other agents unload the DWARFS container. "We're getting to work with the Avengers?" Okay, AC was stuck in a tunnel and she really ought to be thinking about that but still. Avengers! How cool was that?

"Do you think Iron Man will be here? I would love to meet Tony Stark!" Fitz was practically bouncing at the prospect, even as he checked to make sure the DWARFS hadn't been damaged in transit.

"I think he's retired from the hero game." Steve said. "Any idea of the best way to deploy these?"

"Is there a tunnel that might be secure?" Fitz asked after a moment. "If we can get access to a secure tunnel, we can send them down and have them split up to cover all of the lines. That seems the best plan and the fastest."

"The new line construction. If they're wanting to target civilians that would be the last place they would head for." Tasha replied. "And as for Stark, I wouldn't count him out. He's not normal. Normal people aren't on a first name basis with the entire NYC fire department and every officer on the bomb squad. I don't know why he even said he wanted a normal life. I've got a call in, but who knows where he is or when he'll get it. Can someone pull up a map of the system?"

"Here." Skye said as she tapped on her phone and then handed it over. Captain America. Black Widow. Hawkeye. Iron Man. Maybe Thor would show up too? She wasn't sure about the Hulk. Could he even fit into the Metro tunnels? Then something hit her. These people all thought Coulson was dead! Shouldn't someone tell them differently before they ran into him and had heart attacks? But before she could tug May aside to suggest that they needed to share a few things, Captain Rogers was talking.

"It looks like the first station that the new line doesn't share with any of the other lines is McLean." Steve said. Which would require flying there. "Barton, what's happening at the Triskelion?" They couldn't send people into those tunnels until they had an ideal of what they were facing, but they could get teams into place and have them ready to move.

"We've got power, but things are crazy." Hawkeye told them as they started to move the DWARFS back onto the helicopter, with Fitz hovering like an anxious parent. "Bethesda and Georgetown hospitals are both reporting problems maintaining auxiliary power and Sibley's having issues as well. The president called and asked for Shield's assistance with the situation there, and with securing members of Congress. Too bad they couldn't have had a filibuster tonight. Half of them are in cabs trying to get home, so we're having to track them down first. We've got all but one or two teams tied up with all of that and no one with demolitions experience is currently in house."

"Just perfect. Does anyone who's out in the field have demolitions experience? We need them pulled back to the Triskelion if they do." Natasha said. Specialist training did cover bombs, but if this was as widespread as she was afraid it could be, and with all of the civilians who were in those trains, having people with demolitions training might be critical.

"Agent Garrett knows something about it." May said as the team found seats wherever they could in the helicopter before it lifted off. Although if John Garrett turned out to be their only available agent with proper demolitions experience…. Well, at least she wouldn't be in the tunnels when Victoria found out. There would be an explosion for sure.

"Agent Carter's looking for more agents with the necessary skills, but it looks like we're running short on demolitions experts at the moment. Some op in West Africa's seems to have pulled most of them out of the Triskelion." Natasha said as she checked a text message on her phone. "We might have to go with what we have." Agent May had disarmed one of the bombs. Hopefully that was an indication that they wouldn't necessarily need advanced skills to handle this.

The station at McLean was empty when they touched down, with no sign of enemies or bombs. At least one thing was going their way.

"Okay, Fitz." May said as the DWARFS were unloaded again. "The new line intersects with the Orange line at the next section. From there, you need to send the DWARFS up to…"

"Metro to hit the Red and Blue Lines, Gallery Place for Yellow and Green." Skye read off from her phone. I'm guessing AC is on the Blue Line."

The Rosslyn station was the first indication of serious trouble, bombs at attached to the tracks in a manner that would rip them apart upon detonation and then just a bit further up, two more bombs, pressed against one of the trains, stopped in the middle of the bridge over the Potomac.

"If that goes…" May looked at the others with concern. And what if there were more bombs along the other bridges, Bridges packed with trapped cars? Besides losing access to Virginia, thousands could be killed if they lost those. "Keep going, Fitz."

"This isn't good, is it?" Jemma whispered a few minutes later. She was a bio-chemist, and her bomb exposure had been limited to how to remove an eye that was potentially about to explode, but even with that, she could tell this wasn't good.

"If those things go off, it could bring half of the city down." Natasha murmured. And the most vulnerable areas, where the tracks ran underground happened to be in the heart of government. "Steve…."

"Triskelion. We need to try to get people working on some sort of evacuation plan." Steve pulled out his phone and dialed while he was talking. He wasn't sure how they could possibly accomplish that, but he wouldn't believe there wasn't some way.

"Shaped charges." Hawkeye said as he looked over the visuals the DWARFS were transmitting, before turning to May. "What did the one you disarmed look like?"

"Shaped, remote detonator. Wait!" She waved for Fitz to hold the DWARF currently entering the Red Line steady. "Does that look like…."

"Dead man's switch." Natasha said. The way one of the figures was holding his hand, and not helping with the placement of the bombs, it looked like he was holding tight to a dead man's switch. Not good. A dead man's switch and if the DC police, the transit authorities or heaven forbid the army tried to get down there before they found and took that man out…. "Get your boss and Fury on the line. We need to let him know what's going on."

_AC, we've got an update for you. Fitz has the DWARFS following the Metro lines from the new construction out at McLean. There are definitely more bombs, not sure of the exact number, but it's a lot, and from what we've seen so far, it's enough to take down the entire system if they go off._

Coulson, Fury and the other agents all exchanged looks of alarm, and Fury tugged the phone out of Coulson's hands.

_This is Director Fury. How many agents can we get, to go into those tunnels to try to take out the bombs?_

_One or two teams._ Skye typed back after a moment of panic over what the director might do to her if he didn't like her answer. _The president called out a lot of the agents for help securing Congress, which means they're having to hunt through about a million cabs looking for them._

_And all of our demolitions experts seem to be in West Africa at the moment._

"I knew I never should have approved that op." Fury grumbled under his breath. "Options?"

"Five lines, but most of them run along common tracks. If we know what the bombs look like and can work out a plan to disarm them…" Maria used her phone as a flashlight to study the map of the Metro system. "Send teams from the Triskelion into the Red Line from Silver Springs, have Phil's people, Natasha, Barton and the Captain take Orange and Blue through the heart of the city, and we head up the way we came, and cross over the bridge to cover Green and Yellow."

It probably wasn't the best plan, but they didn't have time to come up with something else, given what they were working with.

_Do you have a description of those bombs?_

_Shaped charge, remote detonator. And Agent May and Agent Romanoff spotted someone carrying a dead man's switch. I'm guessing that's really bad?_

A dead man's switch. Definitely bad.

_Location on that switch?_

_We're not sure. He moved into the tunnels, and with no lights and all of those people dressed alive, it's kind of hard to tell who's who._

_Alright. Here's what we're going to do. Tell Romanoff and Rogers to scramble the people they have at the Triskelion. get them up to Silver Springs and tell them to move into the city, taking the bombs out as they go. My people will come in from Arlington, following the Blue and Yellow lines and cross over to take the Yellow and Green just down from the 14th Street Bridge. I want your people to head down the Blue and Orange lines. Got that?_

_Got it._

"Director has a plan." Skye said as she handed over her phone to Steve.

He read and then nodded. It was about the only thing that might work with the few people they had on hand, and the need to move quickly. "How many people are with the director?"

"Fury, Hill, Blake, Hand, Sitwell and Garett. Six total." Hawkeye said.

"Seven." Skye said. "There are seven of them. Agent Coulson's down there too. Hey!" She exclaimed when May glared at her. "Do you think there's a chance they're not going to run into him down there? They could have heart attacks and drop dead! I'm not going to kill people to keep some stupid secret!"

"Fury." Natasha and Hawkeye exchanged a look. But they could think about that later. Get the bombs disarmed, get their people out of there, and then they could have a little talk with the director. "Let's move, people!"

"Jemma, can you manage the DWARFS?" May asked.

"Of course." Jemma said.

"Good, stay here and monitor. Notify us if there are any changes. And try to track the man with that switch. Ward, stay with her and help. You're not going to be able to disarm anything with only one functional arm."

"People!" Fury shouted. "People! I'm Director Nick Fury of Shield." He would have pulled his badge, but it wasn't like anyone would be able to see it. "My people are working to sort out this situation, and we'll have you out of here shortly. Just stay calm and sit tight. We're going to check the tunnel, and then we'll have someone walk you out."

"Which way?" Felix asked, as soon as they had a door open, and squeezed out, dropping into the dark tunnel.

"Next stop up the line's Reagan." Maria said. If we can get a path cleared to there, there should be someone from the Transit authority who can walk these people out while we head from the city, and get the rest of the bombs taken care of."

"That works. Weapons an ammunition, people?"

"I have spare clips if anyone needs them." Victoria said as she opened her shoulder bag, wishing she had found a way to pack a few more guns in addition to the extra rounds.

"Could I ask what you thought you might need that for, Vic?" John asked.

"Possibly to shoot someone who set me on fire? I better not see you with matches or a lighter." Victoria said as she divided the extra clips up and handed them out.

"That was an accident. The train jerked." John said as the started to move up the tunnel. "You know I wouldn't have set you on fire deliberately!"

"People, let's focus here! We have bombs to take care of and civilians to evacuate! And no one is getting set on fire today!"


	5. Chapter 5

"Stop right there!" The transit authority officer shouted as he detected movement from the Metro tunnel. His flashlight jerked in the direction of the motion, and he spotted a group of people making their way towards him. "I said…."

"Director Nick Fury of Shield!" Fury called as he held up his badge where the man could see it. "My senior agents and I were in transit when the power went down. There are people in a train down the line that need walked out!"

"Shield." The officer pulled his hand away from his gun and sighed in relief. This situation, and no one seemed to be sure of exactly what the situation was, because they kept getting reports changing things every five minutes, it was well beyond his training. Shield, he had heard interesting things about them, though. Hopefully it wasn't beyond them to deal with this, whatever it was. "Sir, no one here has any clue of what's going on. We've received reports claiming a potential terrorist attack on the Metro. Do you have any idea of what's going on in there? The transit authority's been debating moving in, but someone says that the army's been called into action for this."

"The army?" Fury could only see disaster if they were letting the army get involved in this. He pulled out his phone, and when he saw that he had reception hit a number. "Mister President? Nick Fury, calling about the Metro situation. I have people on the ground ready to handle it, but I need you to give us some time. We've got bombs deployed along the Metro tunnels and tracks. and someone holding a dead man's switch that could sit them all off if we're not careful. Wait, Talbott?"

"Talbott? Glenn Talbott?" Victoria said. Was someone actually considering sending that man into a situation involving bombs? "John, you might as well start playing with matches now. It will be quicker than what we're going to get if they let Talbott in here."

"Sir, I don't mean to be abrupt, but if Talbott comes down here, people are going to die, a whole lot of people. My teams know what they're doing. We know how to handle this quietly. Talbott knows how to chase things and try to blow them up. That isn't what you need here. Keep him back and give my people a chance to handle it."

"Okay." Fury said several minutes later. "He's going to try to hold Talbott and company back, but the Joint Chiefs are pushing for a military move, so we've got to speed this up." At least the three bombs they had encountered on their way here had been relatively simple to disarm. Hopefully that boded well for the rest of them.

"If Talbott gets in here, it's going to be a disaster. If the Joint Chiefs want a military response, do you think they could find a competent member of the military, one who doesn't like blowing up things?" Maria suggested.

"Hopefully someone's looking into that, but until they find someone we can work with instead of Talbott, we need to move. And we need officers to walk these people out if we can clear a safe path!" He called to the transit officer.

"Yes, sir! I'll get people right away!" He called as he hurried away to gather co-workers to let them know that someone might have a plan to try to save their city.

"Any ideas how to handle this?" It had gone much faster than expected, clearing the bombs and getting people off the trains and walked up the tunnel to the relative safety of the airport, but now they were facing the bridge over the Potomac, a bridge that wasn't meant for foot traffic. There was a train stopped in the middle of the tracks, and they could see the bombs, strapped to supports. Getting them would be tricky, and then getting those people off, Maria wasn't sure how they would manage that.

"Two of us go after the bombs." Coulson said. The rest of us split up, get the doors of the train open, and help people over to the open track." It would take some care. There was minimal space, only a thin ledge really, around the train cars, but if they moved carefully, he thought they could do it. There wasn't any other option that he could see. Even if they could disarm the bombs here, with whoever was attacking the city on the loose, they couldn't leave the people in those cars trapped in such a dangerous situation.

"It looks like a lot of those people are school kids." Jasper said as he looked out onto the tracks. "Is it the season for 5th graders to take their class trips to see the Constitution?"

"Probably, but they ought to be easy to move." Felix added. "Light to move anyway."

"Coulson, you're walking those kids back down the track and to the tunnel." Victoria ordered as she pulled off her heels. John was already moving towards the bombs with Maria, leaving her and the director as the tallest ones, and the ones who were going to have to open those doors, and pass the kids to the others. "Your team seems to be made up of mainly five year olds. You should have plenty of experience with this." This was going to make getting set on fire by John Garrett look like a picnic, she thought as she followed Fury out onto the rail, to the rear of the first car, and the edged around, a narrow ledge and anything they could grab along the car's exterior the only think keeping them from a long fall to a cold and very hard river.


	6. Chapter 6

"I'm going to assume that it was the director's idea for Coulson to fake his death, unless he was looking for a way to avoid dealing with Stark." Natasha said to May as they moved up the tracks.

"There's a long story related to what happened to Coulson." May said. Although with Skye letting things out, she was starting to rethink the director's method for handling this a bit. Wouldn't it make sense if he thought Coulson was going to develop issues for him to bring in people like Stark and Banner, or maybe even the Asgardians, people who might be able to fix the issues, instead of relying of an assembled team of agents, including two scientists who had failed their field tests? Thinking of that made her turn her head. Yes, Fitz and Skye were safely in the middle of the group, with Hawkeye and Captain Rogers bringing up the rear. "The two of you keep in the middle." She ordered them. "Focus on keeping contact with Simmons and the DWARFS so we'll know what we're facing ahead."

And so they wouldn't get in trouble. Skye heard the unspoken addition to that explanation. But it did make sense. Fitz wasn't a real fighter, and neither was she, at least not yet. If they tried, they would probably make someone trip over them, and likely someone on their side, and not even a bad guy. "Should I try to contact Coulson and let him know we're on the way?"

"Best not to distract him if they're working on disarming those bombs." Steve said from behind them. "Are you going to be able to maintain contact with the other members of your team once we get underground?"

"That won't be a problem, and if any of the rest of you would like, I would be happy to modify your phones for you." Fitz said.

"Fitz, maybe they don't want to hear bagpipes every time someone tries to call them." She wasn't sure of how Fitz had done it, but that bagpipe ringtone had been resistant to every attempt she had made to remove it for Coulson.

"There is nothing wrong with bagpipes." Fitz said as he typed a message to Jemma.

_Just passing Clarendon. Any updates from the DWARFS?_

Jemma sighed as her phone beeped and she saw the message from Fitz. Really, she shouldn't worry. He was with three Avengers and Agent May. He was probably safer with them than he would be back on the BUS, but she couldn't help it. The last time they had been separated, Fitz had nearly been killed on a suicide mission.

"They'll be fine." Ward said, and then winced, both from the pain of his broken collarbone, and from the fact that he was a specialist and had been taken out by a two year old, and was now missing the chance to work with a group of living legends. To distract himself, he looked at the images the DWARFS were sending back. "Jemma, take a look at this." He could see the mysterious attackers placing bombs along the Metro lines, but it didn't look like they were staying there to defend the area. "Where are they going?"

"Some central location." Jemma flipped from image to image, trying to get an idea of where the attackers might be heading. "Is there a place where all of the lines intersect?"

"Not all of them, but four intersect at L'Enfant Plaza and three at Gallery Place and Metro Center." Ward said after checking the map of the Metro System. If they were heading there, the only team close enough to handle them would be Coulson, Fury, and the other senior agents. "Jemma, which DWARF is closest to the Blue and Yellow lines heading out to Arlington? I want to see if we can find Coulson."

"Sleepy. Sleepy's close to the 14th Street Bridge." Jemma said as she studied the location of the DWARFS and switched to the feed from the DWARF in question.

"Is that them on the Metro Bridge?" But who else would be climbing along a bridge clearly not meant for human traffic. Jemma fiddled with the feed, trying to bring in the best view that she could, given the rapidly growing darkness.

Victoria signed with relief as Fury helped the last person, one of the teachers, off of the final car of the stranded train. A train packed full of kids, and even though the were supposed to be fifth graders they acted more like they were two, grabbing at her hair as she passed them to Felix or Jasper. She was probably going to have to make an emergency trip to her hairdresser, if they made it through this, to get her red streaks repaired.

"Thank you so much." the teacher signed with relief. Standing on a bridge where people probably shouldn't be standing probably wasn't the most secure but after an hour in a window seat looking down at the cold waters of the Potomac with no idea why the train was stopped or what was going on, anything that wasn't that car would feel much more secure. Her eyes ran over her class, standing on the open track, waiting for Coulson to walk them to safety, taking count. "Do you know what happened? I would have called someone, but everyone from the school was on the same train so…. Wait." Eighteen, nineteen, there should be twenty children but…. "Abby! I need to get back in the car! One of my students is still in there!"

Victoria shook her head, before motioning to Jasper and Felix that she would handle it. She grabbed the edge of the car door and pulled herself in. One kid. She could manage getting one more kid, and how did a teacher loose a kid she was supposed to be keeping an eye on.

"I'm not sure that's going to work." the teacher said as she looked from the door to Jasper and Coulson, the nearest agents. "Abby's autistic and completely non-verbal. I was afraid something like this might happen. Her aide was supposed to be here but she had an accident and broke her ankle at the last minute. I knew we shouldn't have brought her without her aide, but her mother said it would be fine, and the school said i would be fine, and I really should go over there. She's not going to cooperate, I'm afraid."

"Don't worry about it. Victoria's very good at dealing with emergency situations." Felix said. Not very good with children, in her few encounters with them, but still, she could manage one little girl perfectly well.

"Now where…." Losing a kid, how did they lose a kid, and how could she not spot the kid? "Hey, come out now!" she called. "Time to get off the train!" Really, Phil ought to be the one here dealing with this. His team was made up of children, with the exception of Agent May and… There, she finally spotted movement, and eased down the car, to where the little girl was curled on one of the seats. She looked up as she heard Victoria approaching, her eyes going wide with fear, before ducking her head and curling tighter into a ball.

"Hey, I don't eat kids, I swear. Come on, time to get out of here. We've got a town to save, and we're working on a tight timeline, so help me out here, okay?" Victoria reached out for her, as there was a loud boom, and the train shook before starting to tilt alarmingly.

"GARRETT!" Nick barely had time to jump out of the way as the train moved, the last car tilting on it's side, swaying out over the water as the doors slammed shut.

"It wasn't the…." Probably better not to mention bombs with kids nearby. Maria thought. "It looks like something hit the bridge! I don't know if it was a boat or a plane or what! Is everyone out?"

"One kid, Victoria went in to get her. Phil, take the rest of them back down." Nick ordered as he surveyed the scene. "Victoria!"

"What did John do?!" Victoria shouted. At least she had been able to grab the girl, but now the car was tilted and swaying alarmingly.

"It wasn't me!" John said as he and Maria hurried up the bridge to join the rest of the agents, with Phil right behind. "Vic, you've got the kid, right? Get to the righthand side of the car, as close to the next car as you can!"

"Of course I've got her. What is going on out there?" Victoria demanded as she crawled across the floor, the little girl clinging tightly to her.

"We're not sure. Just get as close to the next car as you can, and stay still. We'll have you out in a few minutes." Fury called.

"How are we going to get them out?" Maria asked. Well over a third of the car was hanging over the water. If it move anymore, it could easily fall over and pull the rest of the train with it. And even if Victoria and the little girl survived the impact, the water was freezing. The would drown long before they could find a way to pull them out.


	7. Chapter 7

"Braces. We need to brace it somehow." Felix ran through the situation, looking for the best options, and wishing he had thought to bring some of the tech from the Sandbox with him for this round of meetings. But did they have any tech that could stabilize a train car about to tumble into a freezing river.

"Braces. Cables, chains. That could work." Maria said. Get something around the edge of the door, into the cracks where the door opened in normal circumstances, if they could manage that, they could maybe stabilize the thing long enough to find a way to get Victoria and that little girl out.

"What about the last station we passed. Wouldn't it have a parking area with it? Someone's got to have chains for their car or something, right?" Jasper asked. At least the car didn't seem to be moving at the moment, but if they didn't do something fast, it was only a matter of time before it gave way and slid over the edge. "And could we somehow get the car unhooked?" Maybe that way even if it did go over, if it didn't pull the rest of the cars down with it, maybe it would give Victoria and the little girl more of a chance.

"Find something to brace it!" Fury ordered Maria and Jasper as he pulled himself as close to the gap between the cars as he dared, to try to figure out how to unhook them. It wasn't much, but if they could keep the entire train from going in the water, it might give Victoria a fighting chance.

"Vic!" John called as he looked at the train himself, but he couldn't see a better plan than what Felix had suggested, to brace it somehow. Trying to open a door or a window would likely send it tumbling into the river at that point. "Vic, are you okay?"

"Fine, but could I ask why I'm seeing empty air through an alarming number of windows that are looking like they're about to become part of the floor?" Victoria called as she clutched the girl close to her. The kid wasn't squirming like the others, wasn't screaming in her ear or sobbing. Was that a good sign or a bad one? She looked up to the window that was above her. If they could get the glass out, she could try to shove the girl to safety, but she honestly wasn't sure she could do it before the movement made the train go over the edge. "How much of the train is over?"

"A third maybe. Don't move, Vic. Don't try anything. Just stay still and keep the kid still too. We're going to brace the car, and then we're going to get you out."

A third. Extremely iffy if she could do it fast enough, but…. "If someone could get one of the windows open, and could get close, I could push the girl up and out."

"Agent Hand, do not move! That's an order!" Fury shouted. At least it was easy to release the last car from the others. That was one point in their favor. If they tried to get a window open, though, and the car went in…. "Unless you would like to be demoted and have Agent Coulson's hacker outranking you, don't move a muscle!"

"Agent Coulson's hacker doesn't even have a rank." Victoria called.

"And neither will you if you move!" Fury looked down the tracks and was relieved to spot Maria and Jasper hurrying back, dragging what looked like 50 or sixty feet of cable. Surely that would be enough to hold the car until they could figure a way to get Victoria and the kid out. There had to be a way to get them out.

"They're going to brace the car, then we'll get you out. Just stay still and try to think small, okay?" John called to her.

"That better not be a height joke." Victoria responded. "Seriously, shouldn't this kid be screaming or freaking out by now? Something isn't right."

"She's autistic and non-verbal, according to her teacher." Felix said.

"Non-verbal doesn't mean non-freaking out, Felix! Even if she can't talk, shouldn't she be trying to get away or something?" The little girl was just clinging to her, one hand intwined in her hair, her head buried against Victoria's shoulder. "Kids don't react like this around me. A tech brought their kid in one day, and I think he's still in therapy after he ran into me in the hall."

"Maybe this kid has more sense than most?" John said. "Just hang on. Maria and Jasper have cables. We're going to brace the car and then we'll get you out."

"Getting her out is going to be the tricky part." Coulson said as Felix motioned for Maria and Jasper to join him, so he can show him how to properly attach the cables. "Director?" If his team was here, he was sure that they could come up with some way to get the car open. Would he have time to call them and get them over here? Where were they, somewhere on the orange line?

Before he could ask anyone for a map, his phone beeped.

_Sir, it's Agent Simmons! We saw what happened! Is everyone alright?"_

She saw? But then Coulson noticed the DWARF hovering overhead.

_Jemma, is Fitz with you? _ If Fitz was there, the engineer could come up with something that would get Victoria and that little girl out of there.

_He went with Skye, Agent May, Captain Rogers and Agents Romanoff and Barton to try to disarm the bombs. Ward and I stayed behind at the McLean station. Sir, what happened? We saw the train shake and then tilt! Is someone in there?"_ Why did she ask that? They wouldn't be trying to brace the car if someone wasn't in there, right?

_Victoria got trapped trying to get one of the kids out. Jemma, we're bracing the car, but we need a way to get it open. Those cables are only going to hold for so long._

A way out. If Fitz were here, he could probably think of a million ways to get into that car. Why wasn't Fitz here with her where he belonged? Wait, FITZ! _Sir, Fitz has something on the BUS that would be perfect! It's called the Mouse Hole! He sent it in for approval last year, but it hasn't gone through yet! He still has a version of it on the BUS!_

On the BUS. Coulson felt sudden hope. How far were they from the Triskelion? Surely someone could get there and get their hands on that tool. It sounded like it might be their best option. _Jemma, you might have just saved two people. Keep watching us with the DWARFS in case we need more assistance._ "Director, my people might have a way to help!"


	8. Chapter 8

Finally something was going right. Fury sighed as he turned to Coulson. "What have you got?

"Agent Simmons says that Fitz has something called the Mouse Hole." Coulson said. "She thinks it might be what we need to get into the car. He sent it in for approval a year ago, but there's a prototype on the BUS."

"Mouse Hole? That's a laser cutter, right?" Maria said as she came over. "The techs who were supposed to be evaluating it ended up playing Star Wars jedis with the models they were supposed to be testing. We had to confiscate them after they took out a lab wall. Didn't you end up holding on to them, Director?" And hadn't she seen Fury in his office, taking a practice swing, wielding the cutter like a lightsaber? Not that she was going to bring that up now/

"I need to start carrying one of those." Fury said to himself. "Useful little things." And Coulson was right. If the laser could cut through a lab wall and nearly give the agent on the other side, getting a drink from the water fountain a heart attack it could definitely get Victoria and that kid out of there. How to get one out there, though. That was the problem. "Felix!"

"It's secured for the moment." Felix said as he came over. "But the way we were forced to attach the cables to the car aren't as secure as I would like. We really need to get Victoria and that little girl out of there as soon as possible."

copter

"How long can it hold?" Fury asked.

"I'm not sure. The cables are strong. It's the attachment to the car that's in question. We weren't able to secure them as well as I hoped for fear of the motion sending the car over. If nothing happens to shake the car, we've hopefully got a good bit of time, but if something else hits the bridge…."

"Carter?" Maria said into her phone. "Are you still at the Triskelion trying to coordinate things? Good, I need you to go to Director Fury's office for me and get something." Finding the laser in the director's office would be much quicker than sending her to Phil's plane.

"Bottom drawer, but it's locked." Fury said.

"First go to my office and get the set of keys labeled Fury out of my desk, and then go and open the bottom desk drawer in his office. There should be three or four laser cutters in there. Right, the ones that sent Agent Reese to therapy for five months. We need those things out here now. Get a helicopter and…." She couldn't bring a helicopter around the bridge, though. The drafts it would produce would only pull the car over faster. "The Pentagon. Meet me there with those cutters. We've got Victoria and a kid trapped in a car that's about to go off the bridge, and those might be our best shot at getting them out."

"Triskelion's maybe six or eight minutes from here." Fury said. Six or eight minutes to get there, maybe five for Carter to find the cutters. If Maria could be there to meet her when the helicopter touched down, maybe another five to get back. Twenty minutes. Surely the cables could hold for twenty minutes. "Get going, and I don't want to know why you have a copy of my desk keys!"

"Vic?" John knelt as close to the damaged car as he could get. "Looks like Fury and the others have a plan on how to get you and the kid out. You just stay still for a little longer, okay?"

"Something isn't right with this girl. Something really isn't right." Victoria called to them, relief that they had a plan to get the two of them out plain in her voice. Trapped in a train car that was threatening to tip over with a total stranger holding onto you, Victoria didn't know much about kids but she was fairly sure that this was a situation that would make any kid, even one who didn't talk freak out. But this girl was just clinging to her, her head pressed against her shoulder, fingers of one hand buried in her hair, stroking one of the red strands. Victoria looked the child over as best she could without moving her too much, afraid that she would see blood. She gdidn't see anything less than a major injury that would make a kid unafraid of her. Kids were supposed to be afraid of her. She was a nightmare principal and teacher rolled into one for kids, so why wasn't this girl terrified?

"Maybe it's something with the autism?" Jasper suggested. "Maybe she just doesn't see you the way that most kids do?"

"Or maybe she's hurt and needs to be seeing a doctor now? How long until we get out of here?"

"Fifteen or twenty minutes." Fury said as he came over. "Agent Carter's bringing cutters from the Triskelion, and Maria's on her way to meet her. Think you can handle a kid for that long?"

"Talk to her. You could tell her about Lisbon, maybe." John suggested.

"Right. Tell her about Lisbon and give her nightmares for the rest of her life." Talking might be a good idea, though. What to talk about, though, that wouldn't traumatize the kid? Did kids find hearing about the US tax code as traumatic as adults did? No, that might send her into a coma. "Hey, want to hear about this thing the director's spent the last few months building, to try prove Agent Romanoff is the one who's been cookies out of his lunch in the staff room?"

"I have seen her with crumbs from those cookies on her fingers." Fury grumbled. But was that a helicopter he was hearing. Agent Carter must have made better time than he thought.

But then the helicopters were there, two of them, the wind from the rotors hitting them and pushing them back, almost sending Felix tumbling off of the bridge. Not Shield, but military aircraft, and even fighting to stay on his feet, Fury thought he could see Glenn Talbott in one of the choppers. He waved angrily at him, trying to get them to move. What did Talbott think he was doing? He couldn't miss the car, damaged and ready to fall of the bridge!

The car. Even as Fury was thinking of how Talbott had to see it, the wind from the rotors rocked it, and it was turning, sliding further over onto it's side, the end swinging dangerously out over the river.

"Vic!" John shouted for her, as Fury waved again at the choppers and then pulled his sidepiece and fired, causing them to back off.

Victoria held tightly to the little girl with one arm, and grabbed at the seats with the other, trying to keep them in a halfway safe position even as the car tilted more, and she could hear the sound of a cable being torn free.

"Don't." The voice was so soft that Victoria almost didn't hear it, but then she looked down, and wide, frightened blue eyes were staring up at her. "Don't let go."

"I'm not." Wasn't this kid supposed to be unable to talk? "I'm going to get you out of here right now, alright?" Victoria said. "John? Fury?"

"Felix and Jasper are getting the cable hooked on again. Just stay still!" Fury ordered her. "Are the two of you okay?"

"You don't have time to get the cable back on. Break one of the windows now while I've still got an angle to push her out to you!"

"Vic, don't you dare do anything! You try that, and you're going in that water for sure!"

"Don't you think I know that? We don't have time for any other options! Do it!"


	9. Chapter 9

She might be right, breaking a window might be their best option. At least they could get the kid out, but if they did, and that thing went over, an open window would make it flood and sink even faster. Fury shot a look at Phil and John, and then over at where Felix and Jasper were still working with the cables. "Someone give me another option!"

"There isn't one, not one that would work in time!" Victoria called as the car shifted and swayed more. "Break the window now! I'm not letting a kid die in here!"

Talbott was dead for this. What had he been thinking swooping in like that, bringing a helicopter near a train car that was unstable and in danger of falling? Fury looked around, hoping for some sort of second option, but no sign of Maria. "That thing goes in, how long could she last?" he quietly called to Felix.

"If…." Was Fury seriously considering going with Victoria's demand that they break the window to rescue the little girl, and let her fall of the bridge? Felix quickly ran through the situation, trying to take in the variables, and not liking what he was seeing. "The fall alone could do serious damage. If by some miracle she escaped serious injury, there's no guarantee she would be able to get herself out of the car before it sank."

Not what he was wanting to hear. "If she could get out, how long would she have in that water?"

"Not long enough." Felix said after a moment. "The water's too cold, and what she has on won't give her much protection. Ten minutes maybe, and that's without injury. And it would take us at least ten minutes to get down there, never mind finding a way to get to her." He looked again at the area under the bridge. If Victoria went in there, by the time they could get her out… If they could have a med team standing by, or if they could get a boat in the river to fish her out right away, then there was a chance but as it was… "We can't let her go in that water if we don't want lose her."

"Isn't hypothermia supposed to be protective? Shouldn't that buy her some time until we could get her?" Coulson asked and then cringed. Were they really talking about letting Victoria fall off a bridge possibly to her death?

"Protective, but without a med team close by or a way to get her to a hospital right away, not protective enough. Ten minutes maximum she could last in that water, if she goes under, you're looking at four to six minutes for brain damage to start. We let her fall, we're going to lose her."

Would you stop talking?!" Victoria shouted. She knew what they were saying, and she knew what was likely going to happen if she fell, but if they didn't break the window, the girl was going to die, and she refused to accept that as an option "Break the window! I know what's going to happen and I'm telling you to do it!"

"Vic, we're not letting you fall! Just stay still for a few minutes longer! We'll come up with something! Just don't move!" John ordered her.

"We don't have a few minutes. This is a kid. I'm not letting her die while all of you try to come up with a way that doesn't exist to save both of us! BREAK THE WINDOW!"

Break the window and let her die. Before any of them could respond to that another helicopter appeared, swooping in to hover near the tracks heading into Arlington, and Maria was hurrying out, and catching the package Agent Carter was tossing to her.

"What did Talbott do?" Maria exclaimed as she rushed up the bridge to join them, her eyes wide at the sight of the car, threatening to fall, and knowing that Victoria and that kid were still trapped in there. "I called Agent Carter and had her divert the chopper here to try to save time. What do we do?"

"The cable. If we could get someone at one end, and then secure the other…." Felix said. It was going to be tricky. Possible movement from the cutters, then if Victoria or the girl moved… "One shot if we're lucky. Cut through the end of the car, send someone in to grab them, and hope the cable holds if the car gives before we can get them out."

"I'm the lightest next to Maria. I can do it." Jasper volunteered.

John started to say something, but if that thing fell, they were going to need as little weight on the other end as they could get, if they had to pull Vic, the kid and whoever went after her up. Jasper was the logical choice. "Vic? Maria got the cutters. Just stay still, and we're going to get both of you out of there!"

"You don't have time!" The car was shaking more, and then she heard the cutting start, and it was all she could do to keep herself and the little girl in place as it started to turn and slide. They were going to kill an innocent little girl trying to somehow save them both! "BREAK THE WINDOW!"

Then things were moving, moving impossibly fast. A hole appeared in the rear of the car, and Jasper was there. Victoria tried to shove the little girl up to him, but he moved towards her instead, and then the car was sliding, falling off the bridge, and they were hanging there, over the water, only a cable, a cable making ominous scraping sounds on the bridge's damaged side, as the only thing supporting the three of them.


	10. Chapter 10

Dangling off the side of a bridge, with only a cable that she was terrified was starting to snap for support. Victoria couldn't believe they had done this, risked letting a kid die, risked Jasper coming after them, all on some sort of crazy notion that if they tried hard enough they could save everyone. And now they were all going to go in the water!

"We can't pull the cable." Felix said as he checked the only thing keeping Victoria, Jasper and the little girl from a long and likely fatal drop into the icy water. That had been the original plan, send Jasper in with the cable and then haul all three to safety, but with the damage the falling car had done to the side of the bridge, trying to pull it would only cause damage that could make it snap.

"They're not far down, though." Coulson said as he looked over the edge. Only three or four feet, but with the way they were positioned, and with the little girl clinging to Victoria like she was, there wasn't any way they were going to be able to get back up on their own.

"Yeah, we can reach them." John said as he joined Phil, breathing a sigh of relief when he saw they hadn't fallen any further down than that. With only five of them on the bridge at the moment, and only two of them with the height to reach down there, if they had dropped any further, they would have a real problem getting them up again. "Vic, you okay?"

"You need to get her out of here!" Victoria called up. The little girl was clinging to her, face buried in her neck, not struggling, not freaking, not screaming and she didn't care what anyone said about the kid not being able to talk, she had heard words from her. No struggling, no shrieking when the just fell off a bridge, she didn't have much experience with kids, not any really, but that seemed highly alarming. If she had been hurt, or had gotten hurt when the car fell…. Why hadn't they listened and broken the window like she had told them?!

Then she felt hands, grabbing at her and tugging her up by her jacket, and she was suddenly very thankful for good tailoring, although why they didn't just get the little girl and worry about her first…

Then there was solid ground beneath her, and John and Coulson were dragging her away from the edge and to relative safety while Fury, Felix and Maria helped Jasper up.

"Vic, are you okay?" John asked again as he looked her over as best as he could. Scrapes oozing blood on her hands and from one cheek, but was there anything more serious? Being in that car when it tilted not once but twice, in addition to falling off the bridge, that could do some serious damage.

"Fine." Her body was throbbing, but it felt like everything was still there and in working condition. But the little girl…. "Why isn't she freaking?" Victoria demanded. "Coulson, check her!" Coulson's team consisted of small children impersonating adults, and she frightened them. He ought to know that if a kid wasn't scared of her, something was seriously wrong.

Phil reached out for the little girl. "Let's make sure you aren't hurt, alright?" he said in his most calming tone, as he tried to gather her up, but instead of soothing her, she tensed and clung tighter to Victoria.

A kid holding onto her, instead of going to the extremely child-friendly Coulson? "That's not normal. That's definitely not normal." Victoria murmured as she looked down at the child clinging to her, and then up, where she spotted the Shield helicopter hovering near the Arlington end of the bridge. "Can we get her back to the Triskelion? She needs a doctor."

"I don't think liking you means you need a doctor." John said as he and Phil reluctantly helped her to her feet. "I like you and I'm fine."

"Fine is not the world I would use. And kids are not supposed to act like this."

"Director, can Agent Carter take the little girl back to the Triskelion to be checked over?" Phil called.

Fury nodded. "Probably a good idea for you to go too." He told Victoria. No obvious signs of injury beyond scrapes, but still, with that train car tilting like it did and then nearly falling, she probably needed to be checked as well.

"I'm fine. Nothing a hot shower and some anti-septic can't fix." Victoria said with a shake of her head. The little girl, though. Clinging to her, playing with her hair, not going with Phil. Something had to be wrong with her. Sending her to the Triskelion, where there were doctors and power, was definitely what needed to be done right away.

Fury shook his head but didn't bother arguing. Victoria was moving, and they could use all of the agents they could get to cope with this situation. "Coulson, go tell her teacher we're taking the kid to get checked out."

"And ask her teacher what kind of person LOSES a kid?" Victoria demanded as she slipped her shoes back on and headed for the helicopter with John hovering behind her. At least the little girl would be safe in the Triskelion. Agent Carter was one of their more responsible agents, and with Coulson's team loose in the city, well, there wouldn't be the worry of what they could do if confronted with an actual child, anyway."

"No." the voice was so soft Victoria could barely hear it when she tried to hand the girl over to Agent Carter. "Want to stay."

Was this kid actually saying she wanted to stay with…. Victoria's eyes went wide, and panic washed over her. A doctor, she obviously needed a doctor right away. But how to get her to let go and go with the other agent? Even she knew that trying to physically pry a kid off you wasn't a good idea. "Hey, it's okay." she ended up whispering to her. "I've got to go and find the idiot who caused the train to fall. You just go with Agent Carter so you can get fixed up, alright? I'll be there soon to see you." What was she saying? When they fixed the kid, she would be terrified of her again, as all kids were. But somehow, the words were enough, and the little girl released her deathtrap on Victoria's neck, and let her hand her over to Agent Carter for the trip to the safety of the Triskelion.

"Okay, people!" Fury called as the group assembled again on the bridge. He looked at Victoria carefully, still not sure that he shouldn't have sent her back to be checked out, but it was too late to question things now. "Let's get moving, and get the rest of those bombs taken care of!"


	11. Chapter 11

"They got them out." Jemma gasped and let out a breath she didn't realize that she had been holding when she saw Agent Hand and the little girl safely on the bridge once more. She was sure that she was about to see them fall to their deaths, when the car turned, and then slid off the bridge? Who had that been in the helicopter? She had set Sleepy to record without even thinking about it, in case Director Fury needed the footage later.

"It looks like they're okay." Ward said as he put out a hand to steady Jemma. Agent Hand was on her feet, and it didn't look like anyone was panicking over the kid, so that was a good sign, right?"

Okay. Jemma shook off the shock over what they had just seen, and forced herself to look at the screen for any indications of injury. Nothing obvious, but she breathed another sigh of relief when the little girl was handed over to the agents in the helicopter for hopeful transport to the Triskelion and a doctor. "Agent Hand should have went with them." Being tossed in that car, who knows what injuries she might have that adrenaline might be preventing her from feeling yet?

"Coulson's there. You know how he is." Ward said to reassure her. "If he had thought Agent Hand was hurt, he would have got her on that helicopter anyway, no matter what she said, and no matter that she's four inches taller than him."

Jemma nodded, and then forced herself to look at the images coming in from the other DWARFS to push the worry away. The teams from the Triskelion were moving faster than expected, one group taking out the bombs, while another walked people to safety, but they were only at the Fort Totten station, a long way from the heart of the city still. And as for the others…

Her phone beeped as she pulled up the feed from the DWARF covering the Orange and Blue line that Fitz and the rest were moving along.

_We just got to Foggy Bottom._ Skye typed._ We ran into someone from the transit authority right before we hit the bridge past Rosslyn so we had to wait for more of them to come and walk people out. How's AC?_

_They're moving again. They ran into a problem on the bridge they were crossing but it looks alright now._

Problem? Bridge. Those weren't comforting words. _What happened?_

_Something hit the bridge, and one of the cars eventually went over, with Agent Hand and a little girl almost trapped inside. It's fine. And could you tell Fitz that his Mouse Hole works?_

"Fitz?" Skye said as she looked up. "Jemma said something called a Mouse Hole works. What's that?"

"A laser cutter. It's still waiting for approval. What did they need that for?" Fitz asked. Mixing a laser and bombs, even if these weren't particularly complicated bombs, didn't seem like the best idea to him.

"Agent Hand and some kid nearly went off of the bridge over the Potomac in one of the Metro cars." Almost falling off a bridge, okay, Agent Hand could be annoying and Skye was sure she was probably had some list somewhere of the team's various sins that she was saving up for who knows what, but still that didn't mean she wanted her HURT!

"She nearly…" Melinda stopped and looked back. "Is she okay?"

"Jemma didn't say. She would have said if she wasn't, right?" Skye said. "They would have had to have got her some help if she wasn't okay, and that would delay them, so Jemma would have had to have mentioned it."

"I'm sure it's fine." Natasha agreed, although almost falling off a bridge, that just didn't sound good. "Can you ask if there's any sign of the man with the dead man's switch, yet?"

_Jemma, Agent Romanoff wants to know if you've spotted the guy with that switch thing yet._

The switch. Jemma flicked through the images the DWARFS were sending back looking. Bombs, more bombs and people trapped in the cars, people moving through the tunnels and… Wait, there! "Ward, what station is that?" She demanded as she checked the DWARF sending back the feed. Bashful. Bashful was somewhere on the Green and Yellow lines, she thought.

"National Archives. I think he just passed the stop for the National Archives a few minutes ago." Ward said after a moment. "I think I saw that stop in a movie once. It looks familiar."

"National Archives. Then that stop must be Gallery Place." Jemma said as she consulted a map.

_Skye, we found them! It looks like they're heading for Gallery Place, where the Red, Green and Yellow lines intersect! _Jemma played with the Bashful, but with the number of people moving in the tunnel and the lack of light, she couldn't pinpoint the man holding the dead man's switch, even using infrared or any other frequency. _I can't pinpoint the man with the switch, but they're definitely congregating there! How far away are you?_

"Gallery Place. She says they're meeting up at Gallery Place. How far away is that?" Skye asked.

"We could switch to the Red Line at Metro Center, but that would leave at least two stops on the Blue and Orange lines uncleared." Hawkeye said as Fitz pulled up a map of the Metro System on his phone.

"Those are right in the heart of town, and near all of the major museums. They're probably packed with people." Steve said. If they could be sure of taking out the man holding the switch to trigger the explosives, it would be one thing, but if they didn't and the bombs went off… "What team's closest?"

"Coulson, the director and the other senior agents." May said. "Skye…."

But Skye was already texting. _AC! Jemma's found the people who've been putting bombs everywhere! They're heading for Gallery Place!_

"Gallery Place. They're heading towards Gallery Place!" Coulson called. _Skye, where are you and the other teams?_

_"We're just finishing at Foggy Bottom. Wait a sec and I'll check with Jemma on the teams from the Triskelion._

_Jemma, I've got AC on the line. Where are the agents who are supposed to be taking care of the Red line?_

_Fort Totten. _They were at Fort Totten, and with Skye, Fitz and the others at Foggy Bottom, that left Agent Coulson and the others in the best position to deal with the bombers. How many bombers were actually in there? They were moving, which made counting difficult but… _Skye, I'm seeing at least twenty-five already in the station._

Twenty-five. Was that bad? But there were seven people total with AC, and they were the director and all of the senior agents of a major intelligence organization. 25 bad guys verses the seven of them. That was a bit over three to one odds. They could probably handle that in their sleep.

_AC, Jemma says there are at least twenty-five, and the agents from the Triskelion are out at Fort Totten._

"Alright." Fury said after looking at the message from Skye. "Here's what we do. We go up at the Archives and divide into three teams. Phil, you take Jasper and Felix and head for the Mt. Vernon Square station. Follow that down to Gallery. Maria and I will take the entrance to Gallery itself. And…." And he had done it again, putting Victoria and John together. Why did he keep doing that? They were trying to keep things from blowing up, not set them off!

She was suddenly wishing she had fallen off that bridge after all. "We keep going up the tunnel to close in on the other side?"

"Right. And remember people, we are trying to prevent explosions here, not cause them! We are not repeating Lisbon!" Fury said with a glare at John.

"Hey, I resent that. There wasn't an explosion in Lisbon."

"No, there was a fire, and I was in the middle of it." Victoria glared at him herself. "You better not have matches or a lighter, is all that I can say."


	12. Chapter 12

Her left side was hurting. The further they went up the tunnel, the closer they got to Gallery Place and what could be a deadly firefight, the more her side throbbed. The only thing that she could think of was that she had to have broken a rib when the train car tilted. Just perfect, and exactly what she didn't need to deal with right now.

"Vic, you okay?" John called softly. He could sense the annoyance coming off of her in waves, and he knew he hadn't done anything in the last five minutes that he could recall that might have triggered her anger, so what was ticking her off?

She debated keeping quiet, but they were supposed to be working together. "Rib from the train finally started to hurt. Remind me to kill Talbot the next time I see him." Victoria told him. "I've got the perfect place to dispose of his body."

"A broken rib, let me handle the body dumping for you, okay? Don't want to make that any worse. Can you fasten your jacket? That might be a little support." He knew better than to suggest she stay back for something as minor as a broken rib, but still, he wished they had something they could use to wrap it. Going into a firefight in pain, that wasn't going to be good.

"Already thought of that. It's not doing much." Victoria muttered as voices suddenly reached them from the tunnel up ahead. She waved to John to stop and ease back a bit. "Am I hearing wrong or does that sound like more than twenty-five people?"

"It sounds like way more. Maybe they had some come in from above ground where Coulson's people missed them." Twenty-five, that was do-able with seven of them, but what he was hearing now…. "Vic, how are you for spare clips?" He had one, and another one that she had handed out, but if there were as many people as it sounded like there were….

"Two." She was seeing the same problem John was, but what other options did they have? Fury, Coulson and the others were already in position and they didn't have a way to contact them, to warn them that the situation was worse than expected, and they needed another plan. And what other plan did they have that might have a chance of working in time, anyway?

"If we could just come up with a distraction…."

"If someone comes up with a distraction, it is not going to be you." Victoria hissed. "I have a broken rib. I do not need burns on top of that!"

"I didn't let you get burned before. I got your shirt off in time, didn't I?"

"You got us arrested!" Victoria hissed again.

"We got bailed out. And they dropped the charges, didn't they? It worked out okay." John told her just as a loud boom shook the tunnel. "That wasn't me!"

"It came from outside. Fury with a distraction." At least she hoped it was Fury with a distraction or they were in big, big trouble. Then the gunshots started, from the other side of the Metro tunnel as Felix, Jasper and Coulson got into position, and there were more booms above as Fury and Maria moved in, and the enemy, whoever they were, were moving as well, hurrying for the tunnels and what they thought was a way out. She barely had time to press herself against one side of the tunnel, while John took the opposite side, and take aim as best they could in the dark, before the first wave was on them.

This was not going to end well. Five minutes in and John had a bad feeling this wasn't going to end well. He was already down to his last clip, and he had a feeling that Vic was too. It sounded like Phil and his team were holding out okay but there were three of them and it seemed like for some reason every bad guy in the place was heading right at him and Vic instead of going north towards Phil and the others. If something didn't change fast…. And that dead man's switch was still out there, threatening the city if it went off. Where were Phil's people, and the other teams from the Triskelion? They needed backup in here yesterday!

She should have gone with a bigger bag. She knew she should have brought her bigger bag that would hold more ammunition, but they were supposed to be at a meeting at the Watergate, not fighting hostiles in the middle of the capitol! Victoria felt her gun click empty just as another boom shook the tunnel, this time not from Fury but from what looked like a rocket launcher, hitting the wall above Garrett and sending him flying as more men rushed the tunnel.

The lights flickered, and suddenly after hours of darkness, the power company picked either the perfect or the worst time to get the electricity back on. The light from the Metro station was blinding but the shelter of the tunnel helped, giving Victoria a bit more vision than their escaping attackers had. One of them was right in front of her, and she realized with a jolt of shock that it was the man holding the dead man's switch.

His hand twitched as he realized he was caught, starting to release his grip on the switch, and there wasn't time to think. She slammed into him, grabbing his hand and holding tight to keep the switch from being released as they fell back and crashed onto the rails.

There was a noise John had never heard before and the lights flickered for a moment. He wasn't sure how, but he was on his feet again, and firing, forcing the rest of the men who were trying to get into the tunnel back as he rushed forward.

The third rail. Vic had shoved the guy onto the third rail. He was obviously dead, the dead man's switch melted into his fried hand. And Vic… She had been thrown back and was crumpled on the ground, face down, her hair spread out around her, not moving at all as John hurried over and knelt beside her, frantically feeling in her neck for a pulse. Nothing, not a flutter of movement under his fingers, not a hint of breathing. Nothing.


	13. Chapter 13

Gunfire was still everywhere in the Metro station just feet away. Even if he shouted, there was no way that Phil, Fury or any of the others would hear him. Maybe the terrorists or whoever these people were had seen what had happened with the third rail, though, because they weren't heading in their direction anymore. One good thing. He had only four or five shots left and Vic…

He put the gun down, close enough to grab it if necessary, and got Victoria over onto her back, his fingers pressing against her neck again, hoping the way she had been lying had caused him to miss a faint pulse before. Nothing, there was absolutely nothing, and the skin around her lips was already starting to take on a bluish tinge.

"This is punishment for being a month late taking that first aid refresher class, isn't it?" He tilted her head back and pinched her nose closed, before giving her two breaths. "I promise I'll sign up for it. I promise I won't drive the teacher crazy this time. Vic, just take a breath for me, okay?" Nothing, nothing, nothing. He pressed his fingers to her throat again but there was still nothing there. Not good, this wasn't good. He ran his fingers up her chest to find the proper location and started compressions, wincing slightly when he heard a cracking noise the first time he pushed down. One thing the classes could never, ever prepare you for, the sound of actually breaking someone's ribs and cartilage, and then having to keep going anyway. But unfortunately one thing that the classes did prepare you for were the odds that CPR alone would be enough to bring someone back. That what did it did was to keep the brain viable until more help could get there. And trapped in an underground Metro station, with bombs and bullets flying, how long would it take to get help in there, if he could find a way to let the others know what was going on? "Vic, I swear I'll take that class. I'll take all of those classes I'm behind on taking. I won't ask you questions about my income taxes at eleven at night on April 15th. Just hang on, okay?" He called to her as he finished the set of compressions and gave her more breaths, before starting another cycle. She was pale, paler than anything he had ever seen, and it felt like she was getting colder beneath his hands. What was taking so long? Vic had taken out the switch! How long could it take to get the rest of these people under control?

Jemma screamed, hand flying to her mouth as they saw the images and the sound transmitting from Bashful, the lights suddenly flickering on in the Metro and then the man in front of Agent Hand, and her shoving him onto the third rail.

"He had the switch. Was that shock enough to take out the switch?" But it was melted, that ought to be enough to take it out, right? Ward knew he ought to know that, but for some reason his training on bombs and the switches that could control them had slipped his mind. Had he banged his head when that two year old took him down? A concussion on top of a broken bone from a two year old. He would probably be demoted to janitor when the director found out.

"I don't know about the switch, but Agent Hand…." She didn't take the full voltage. The man carrying the switch had obviously done that, and Jemma didn't think she had came into physical contact with the rail, but obviously she had taken at least a partial hit from the electricity.

"John's got her." Ward tried to reassure Jemma. "He's probably at least a month behind on his recertification classes, but I've worked with him. He knows what he's doing."

"An electric shock, she needs CPR, but she needs a defibrillator more. Electric shock, it had to have thrown her heart into fibrillation." Jemma murmured. Defibrillator, wouldn't the Metro station have one of those somewhere nearby? But how were they going to get access to one as long as there were bullets flying everywhere, and even worse, a live third rail barely a foot away from where Agent Hand was crumpled, with Agent Garrett working over her.

"Try to reach Agent Coulson." Jemma ordered as she pulled out her phone. "Let him know what's going on." There was no way that they could get there in time to be of any physical help, but maybe she could at least get that power off, and keep things from getting worse.

_SKYE!_

Text in all caps. Not good. _Jemma, what's wrong? We're moving as fast as we can. Has AC…._

_Get Fitz. I need you to find a way to get the electricity cut to the Gallery Place station now! Agent Hand took out the person holding the dead man's switch but they ended up falling onto the third rail!_

Third rail. Jemma didn't have to spell things out for her to know that wasn't good. "FITZ!" Skye shouted. "We need the power cut to the Gallery Place station yesterday! Agent Hand got shocked by the third rail!"

"What?" May demanded as she hurried over. The third rail. If Victoria had fallen on that, was there even anything that could be done for her? "What happened?"

"Jemma said she took out the guy with the switch, but they fell on the third rail. I don't know anything else. Fitz?"

"Hack the system, we could take that area down for a few minutes by indicating a problem in the grid." Fitz said after a moment. "But to get the power up as fast as they did, they must have called in all of their engineers. They'll figure out it's a hack relatively quickly. A few minutes is all we can hope for."

_Fitz says he can take we can take it off-line for a few minutes. How bad is it?_ Third rail? That had to be bad.

_Agent Garrett's doing CPR but she needs more help fast. _ "Ward, tell me you've got Agent Coulson on the line!"

He was not good at one handed texting. Shooting, everything else he had exceptional hand eye coordination, but when it came to texting…. Ward gave up and hit the number for Coulson's phone, hoping that he was close enough to the Metro entrance that the call would go through.

Coulson grabbed his phone without thinking. "This is not a good time!"

"Sir, Agent Hand took out the man with the dead man's switch, but they both came into contact with the third rail. John's doing CPR, and we're trying to get the power off so you can get her out of there safely."

"What?" Coulson paused, hoping he hadn't heard what he was afraid he had, but then he took charge. "Do what ever you have to. Get that power off. We'll handle the rest. And get a helicopter dispatched from the Triskelion now!" How long had it been since the power came back on? Two, two and a half minutes. Victoria didn't have much time left if they were going to save her.


	14. Chapter 14

Coulson fired off another shot and waved Felix and Jasper over. "My people are going to cut the power again. As soon as we lose the lights, get up to the platform, tell Fury that the switch is down, but Victoria took a hit from the third rail taking it out."

"How bad?" The third rail? How many volts ran through that thing? Felix knew the current had to be strong. If Victoria had fallen on it…. Burns, internal damage, would it even be possible to save her after a shock like that?

"John's doing CPR. Get on that platform and tell Fury what's going on. When the lights go, I'm going to try getting over there to help him get her moved." Moving a person in cardiac arrest. That was going to be risky, but not as risky as leaving Victoria where she was with that live rail. Besides the danger, there was no way they could treat her effectively while she was that close to the thing.

Then the lights were out, and Coulson was moving, and hoping that Jasper and Felix could make it to the platform, and that Fury could get the situation under control fast.

John had just finished his ninth cycle of compressions and breaths when he heard footsteps approaching, causing him to go for his gun. He might only have a few shots left, but no one was going to do anything else to Vic while he had anything left to stop them.

"It's me." Coulson called. "We need to get her up on the platform while my team has the power cut."

Anything that disrupted CPR once you got it started wasn't good, but what choice did they have? "Vic, just hold on, okay?" John said as he picked her up. She was limp, utter dead weight in his arms, and he had to fight back panic as he adjusted her a bit so her head was supported. How long had he been working on her? Nine cycles of compressions and breaths? That had to be over two minutes. But even though he was behind in his refresher classes, surely he hadn't been doing it too badly. "I swear, I will sign up for those classes the second we get this taken care of. Just hold on!"

"What happened?" Fury was suddenly shouting out of the darkness. "Did I not say when we got on the Metro that I did NOT want anyone falling onto the third rail?"

"She was out of ammunition and the guy was right in front of her. There wasn't anything else she could do." And blown back by the explosion from what he swore was a rocket launcher, he had been unable to do a thing to help her. The lights suddenly flickered and came on again and Fury was right in front of them, grabbing Victoria and pulling her up to the platform as John and Coulson pushed her to safety.

"Did she come into contact with the rail at all?" Felix called as he tilted Victoria's head back, and pinched her nose closed, and gave her two breaths before the director started chest compressions. He hadn't seen any visible burns. Was that a good sign?

"No." John called as he pulled himself over the edge of the platform and gave Coulson a hand up. "She knocked him down, and she was holding onto his hand so he couldn't release the switch. He's totally fried, and the switch melted so he had to have taken the brunt of the shock. Even part of it was enough to put her down, though." On the platform, he didn't know what do to. Fury and Felix were working on Vic, hovering over her, he would only be in their way but….

Maria suddenly appeared, from near the ticket turnstiles and came rushing down, box with the station's AED in hand.

"I couldn't find it until the lights came on." She said as she dropped down by Victoria, and Felix moved a bit to make room for her. Bad, this was definitely very bad, but maybe… "Jasper's looking for someone to flag down to help." If they could get Victoria back, they were going to have to get her to the hospital or back to the Triskelion as soon as possible for some major medical attention. Maria reached around the director's hands and tugged Victoria's blouse open, and got the defibrillator pads into position on her chest before motioning for the others to move back while the machine powered up and ran through its cycle of analyzing her heart rhythm.

Shock advised. That was good, wasn't it? John was almost sure it was, but still, he was definitely signing up for that refresher class. It wasn't much like on TV, but even the slight jerk of Victoria's shoulders in response to the shock made him wince. "Vic, come on." He whispered under his breath as the machine ran another check while Felix felt for a pulse.

The machine said no shock advised, and then Felix found a pulse, unsteady still be definitely there.

"We are going to have a long talk after you get checked out." Fury told the still unconscious agent as Felix and Coulson quickly pulled off their jackets to wrap around Victoria, who was trembling slightly as she started to take shaky breaths once more. "I distinctly remember giving the order not to fall on the third rail and you somehow managed to disobey my very clear instructions, didn't you?"

"Director?" Jasper called as he came hurrying in. "Agent Carter and a team from the Triskelion are here!" He started to ask how Victoria was, but it was pretty obvious that she was breathing again, with the others hovering anxiously over her. That was a really good sign, right?

They were forced to back up and give the medics some room to work, but they didn't go too far away, even as more people came in to deal with the people who had attacked the Metro system.

"Do you know how long she was in cardiac arrest?" one of the people tending Victoria called.

"Four or five minutes. A minute or less until I got CPR started, and maybe thirty seconds for us to get her up on the platform." John called. That short a time, and with CPR going pretty much the entire time, that was a good sign, wasn't it? But he would feel a whole lot better about the situation if he could hear Victoria complaining about the medics working around her, getting her hooked to monitors and IVs, and then loading her onto a stretcher, a blanket secured around her on top of the jackets to keep her warm.

"Her heart rhythm's still a little shaky, but I think we can give her some medicine to stabilize that." Sharon said as they raised the stretcher up and started up to the Metro entrance.

"Good. Jasper, you go with them and keep an eye on her." Fury was tempted to send John, but he would like to have his medical staff still in once piece and not turning in their resignations in self defense against Victoria's hovering friend. And there were still bombs out there to deal with, and Garrett just happened to be their only available agent with some demolitions experience as well.

John didn't bother arguing. Vic had almost died trying to save the city from the bombs. She would kill him if he left some of them still in place so he could hover at her bedside. "Just take care of her, okay? The only reason half the town's still in once piece is because of what she did down there. All of you take good care of her!"


	15. Chapter 15

"AC!" Skye called as she eased her way through the hordes of Metro police, Shield agents and DC police, and spotted Coulson with the director and the remaining senior agents. No sign of Agent Hand. Was that bad, or possibly good, if they had hurried her off already to get fixed up.

"Skye?" Coulson looked up when he heard her. How had had his people got there so fast? He could see May and Fitz too, and…

"Agents finally got through hunting down all of those members of Congress who were stuck in cabs, so they could help us out." Skye said. "We headed over here to find out what was going on. Is Agent Hand okay? Jemma's kind of freaking out. They saw the entire thing over the DWARFS."

"She's on her way back to the Triskelion now. She'll be fine." His people were here. Did that mean that Romanoff, Barton and Captain Rogers were as well? And what was he supposed to do about it if they were? It wasn't like there was a hiding place he could dive into.

"Coulson." And there they were, the agents who hadn't jumped back for May practically diving for cover as Natasha came in, with Clint and Steve right behind her.

"They don't seem surprised to see you." Fury murmured.

"I went ahead and told them he wasn't dead." Skye said and when the director glared at her, she added. "Did you want to kill them? If someone hadn't let them know AC wasn't dead, they could have had heart attacks or something! And then we would all be accessories to murder." And she had absolutely, positively no desire to go to prison. And Jemma and Fitz, those two wouldn't last a day!

"You we are glad to see." Natasha said as she looked at Coulson. "You were obviously under an evil influence, or you wouldn't have done this to us." And the look she was giving Fury, he might as well be wearing a sign that said "Evil Influence."

"What about the bombs?" John called before Natasha could decide that she should possibly do away with the evil influence. "Vic took out the dead man's switch, and it didn't look like they hooked up any sort of back-up timer, but with the power back on, they could get set off by accident, especially if some idiot decides to get those trains moving before they could clear everything. Vic would not be happy if that happened and she was already going to be grumpy enough, with broken ribs and a cracked breastbone, he was afraid. It they screwed things up after she nearly got herself killed saving everyone, Romanoff wouldn't be the only one killing people.

"We really do need that power off, or at least we need to make sure that someone doesn't try to move the trains." Felix said. No timer, and it didn't look like the bombs were especially sensitive, but if they should come into contact with the third rail, they could still have a disaster on their hands.

"We can have a talk about any issues you might have later." Fury said with a glare at Natasha which didn't even make her flinch. "We've still got bombs out there, and people in potential danger." He turned and yelled at the nearest Metro officer. "I want those trains locked down now! Nothing moves until my people clear the tunnels! How many more teams do we have ready to move?"

"Four so far, and hopefully more will be freed up soon." Steve gave Fury a hurt look, before focusing on the situation at hand. He was right about one thing. They needed to focus on getting the bombs disarmed and the people in the Metro cars to safety. Then they could deal with the situation with Agent Coulson and the unbelievable cruelty of Fury letting them think he was dead.

Four teams. He had hoped for more but… "Sent them to the ends of Orange, Green, the other end of Red, and the End of Yellow and Orange. The rest of us will keep moving on the lines we were working, and clear out the bombs. Let's move it, people! We still have a lot of work to do!"

It was hours before they made it back to the Triskelion. After taking out the attackers and disabling the switch that would have set off the bombs, the agents had thought it would be a quick sweep to clear the tunnels, but between dealing the the Metro authorities and arguing with the power company who weren't crazy about the notion of shutting off the electricity they had just got back on, it had taken them twice as long to clear the tunnels and walk people to safety as it had when they were dealing with bombers on the loose and no idea when the blasted things might go off.

"I could have a talk with Natasha and Barton." Coulson offered as the senior agents and the director headed for medical. May had drug Skye and Fitz who were both hyped on adrenaline off to be put to bed on the BUS as soon as they arrived, and Jemma had drug Ward away to tend to his broken bone, so at least he didn't have to worry about his team at the moment. "Maybe I could convince them you had the best of intentions." Of course, he was still trying to figure out what the director's intentions were, but surely he hadn't had actual evil intentions, right?

Before Fury could reply, they spotted Jasper sitting in a chair in a small waiting area off the hallway.

"Hey, I thought you were keeping an eye on Vic." John called. Did he not know that keeping an eye on her kind of meant being in the same room with her?

"I was. They took her for surgery about fifteen minutes ago and sent me out here." Jasper said.

"Wait, surgery?" John demanded. How had Vic ended up needing surgery? Had the shock done more damage than any of them had thought? But they had got her heart beating, and she had been breathing on her own! If the shock had been that bad, would they have been able to do that, getting her back that fast?

"What happened?" Maria asked before any of the others could.

"Broken rib nicked the spleen." Jasper said as he tried to recall exactly what the doctors had said. "Her blood pressure was dropping and they wanted to fix it before it could get any worse."

A broken rib? John and Fury looked at each other in alarm. Chest compressions, you were going to break ribs, but if they had done something that had landed Victoria in emergency surgery….

"It wasn't from the CPR. It looked like it had been bleeding for awhile before we got her in here." Jasper said. "That's why they went ahead and took her to surgery, since the bleeding wasn't stopping on it's own."

"Talbot." John felt like hitting something when he realized what must have happened. "She started hurting right before the fight started. She thought she broke a rib when the train car tilted and she was finally starting to feel it." How long had she been walking and then fighting with an injured and bleeding spleen and how could that complicate the situation?

"Maria, get Talbot's superiors on the line now!" Fury growled. Bad enough when the man had endangered one of his people and an innocent little girl, but now, hurting Victoria bad enough that she needed surgery….

"But she'll be alright, won't she?" Phil asked as he took a seat next to Jasper and Felix joined him, followed a moment later by John when he realized that standing, pacing and glaring in the direction of the operating room doors wouldn't do any good.

"They were a little worried that the bleeding wasn't stopping on it's own." Jasper told them. "And she still hadn't woke up when they took her back."

Not good. This did not sound good, and when Maria handed him the phone, Fury was about ready to explode. "Yes, this is Director Nick Fury. I have an agent in surgery right now thanks to the actions of your officer, Colonel Talbot. He recklessly endangered people tonight, and he might have seriously hurt one of my people, so you are going to listen very, very closely to what I want done with him! And you better tell him to start praying right now that my agent is alright, because if she isn't, I can guarantee that he won't be!"


	16. Chapter 16

"What's going on?" May asked as she came down the hall and spotted the senior agents and the director clustered in the the waiting area, with the director pacing and glaring at his cell phone, obviously not pleased with what the person on the other end of the line was saying, and John shooting looks at the doors leading to what she thought was the operating room.

"Victoria's in surgery for a bleeding spleen. What are you doing down here?" Coulson asked. Most people had been avoiding them, probably fearing that Natasha might appear at any moment to kill Fury and they would end up caught in the crossfire. "Everything okay with the team?"

"Do you mean is everything okay besides the fact that Skye and Fitz are now bouncing all over the bus over the fact that they actually got to work with three of the Avengers?" May said. "I was going to see if I could find Simmons to see if she could slip a sedative to them." It was either that or shoot the pair with the night-night gun and drag them to their beds once unconscious. If she had to hear them speculating about Tony Stark showing up one more time…. "Wait, Victoria's in surgery? What happened?"

"Broken rib nicked the spleen." Jasper explained again as he shot a worried look towards the operating room doors himself. The doctor had said it was a simple procedure, but still, seeing Victoria that quiet, and to see the monitor tracking her blood pressure dropping, even with doctors and nurses fussing around her trying what seemed like a million things to get it back up, well, how was he not supposed to worry?

Broken rib? May winced. CPR was likely going to break ribs, but how in the world did you manage to break one badly enough to damage the spleen and cause someone to need emergency surgery?

"It wasn't from the CPR. Apparently it happened when the Metro car tilted and fell. With all that was going on, Victoria didn't realize that there was a more serious problem than a damaged rib." Coulson said.

"Talbot? We could invite him to take a little ride on the BUS." May offered. "I think we've been having some problems with the loading ramp dropping unexpectedly. It would be a shame if it did that in mid-flight and something fell out, wouldn't it? Unless you think Victoria would prefer to handle things herself."

"She's not handling it herself." John said. "Bad enough he broke her rib and put her in surgery. She doesn't need to make things worse somehow trying to dispose of his body."

"I might dispose of his body myself, and the idiot in charge of him too." Fury grumbled as he hung up the phone. "It seems that Colonel Talbot is claiming that his sweep over the bridge was to offer assistance to us."

"Assistance?" Jasper demanded. "We had the Metro car braced and stable. The situation was under control until he came swooping along. The thing ended up falling because of him! He almost knocked Felix off the bridge thanks the draft from that helicopter! Victoria's in surgery because of him!"

"Tell me his superiors aren't believing his story about offering assistance." John added. "He didn't offer us anything. He just came swooping in, screwed up a situation we had managed to stabilize and then went on his merry way. Vic and that kid could have both died, and Talbot wouldn't have carried." If Talbot had known that it was Vic in the car, he would honestly suspect he had did it deliberately, to try to kill her.

"Isn't General Ross Talbot's superior?" Coulson winced slightly. Ross, if they were dealing with him, this wasn't going to end well as far as any sort of official discipline. Dropping Talbot off the bus. That might be their best option. If everyone had to dig a hole to bury him in, they would be working all night and half the day. He wasn't entirely sure that Felix and Jasper would know which end of the shovel went in the ground.

"Ross has agreed to detain him until they get official statements from everyone involved." Fury said.

"What about official footage?" Jemma called as she came down the hall. "I recorded everything from the DWARFS feeds, and they had a clear shot of the bridge incident. What's going on?" Why were the director and all of the senior agents plus Agent May sitting outside of what looked like doors leading to an operating room? But then something hit her. "Agent Hand?"

"Broke a rib on the Metro car that nicked the spleen." Coulson told her. "Do you have any idea how long it might take to fix that?"

"It would depend if they were going to try to repair it, or go for the removal." Jemma said. "The removal would be quicker but they might try for a repair first due to potential immune issues. How long has she been in there?" And how long had it been between the Metro car tilting and falling, and when they got Agent Hand back to the Triskelion for medical help? If she had been actively bleeding all that time…

Removing things? Was the spleen an organ that you needed? But even if you didn't exactly need it, John knew that Vic wouldn't be pleased if she woke up missing an organ.

"So how long until we hear something?" Fury repeated Coulson's question.

"I would guess two or three hours at least." Jemma said after a moment. "If she was actively bleeding, along with the repair or removal, they're going to need to clean up as much of the blood as possible to try to prevent complications. That might take awhile."

Two or three hours or longer. The senior agents exchanged a look. It looked like their already long night was about to get a whole lot longer.

"I'll get the coffee." Felix offered. "Director, please tell me you have finally arranged for a decent blend of coffee."

"There is nothing wrong with our coffee." Fury said before turning to Jemma again. "Can you get that footage for me? Maybe film will make Ross see reason." And if it didn't, Talbot was going to be taking a little plane ride, and a long drop without a parachute. Victoria had saved the city and now she might loose an organ thanks to him. The military could get by with one less Colonel.


	17. Chapter 17

"Hey, what's going on?" Skye called as she came down the hall, dragging Ward, and with Fitz following right behind. "We've been looking for you all over the place."

"I thought I sent the two of you to bed." May said. And she thought that Ward was in hiding, suffering embarrassment over the two year old and the broken bone he had suffered at the hands of the child.

"Couldn't sleep, and then when we were looking for you we heard Agent Barton talking on the phone. We think he was calling Tony Stark and we didn't want to miss him." Skye said.

"Believe me, there's no way you could miss Stark." Coulson told her.

"We didn't want to take the chance. What's going on?" Skye asked again. Fury and five senior agents. They were missing someone, but then Agent Hand was probably tucked into a bed still, but if she was, why were all of the other agents sitting in the hall instead going to visit her and congratulate her? Fitz had pulled up footage from the DWARFS. If not for Agent Hand, the city would probably be in pieces now. Why weren't…. "Hey, Agent Hand is okay, right?"

"Bleeding spleen." Coulson said. "She's in surgery right now. The three of you might as well go back to the BUS and go to bed. Jemma, you can go with them. It's going to be awhile, it looks like."

"That sounds painful." Skye said as she dropped into one of the few available seats. "Did it happen when that idiot in the helicopter came swooping in? Fitz showed us the footage from the DWARFS. What was he thinking?"

Probably that he was ticked Fury got him called back from trying to go into the Metro tunnels himself, and he wanted to do something to cause problems for us." John muttered. And now Vic was hurt and in surgery because of him. What was taking those doctors so long? It had probably been at least an hour, hadn't it? Or maybe longer? Shouldn't someone be coming out to at least let them know how she was doing? Or what they were going to have to do to fix her? "What exactly does the spleen do, anyway?"

"Isn't it something like the appendix?" Jasper said. "Something that's nice to have, but you can get by without it just fine?"

"I think it's a little more than that." Felix said.

"The immune system and the blood." Jemma said in a helpful tone. "I believe I've seen something that says that the risk of contracting an infection like meningitis, pneumonia or the flu is over three hundred times higher if you're lacking a spleen. And, of course, the risk of dying from one of those infections is greater, but I'm not sure of the numbers. And then there's the potential for clotting disorders and damaging or deadly blood clots in the immediate period after surgery. Then…."

"I think they have it, Jemma. Little too much information there." Skye stopped her before she could say anything else about potential horrible complications that poor Agent Hand might be facing. If she listed one more potential problem, Agent Garett, Agent Sitwell or Agent Blake or possibly all three would probably end up on the floor. How much trouble could Jemma get into for giving a superior officer a heart attack because her bedside manner seemed to need a bit of work? "I'm sure Agent Hand will be fine. The doctors would know that removing stuff causes problems, right? So they'll probably do everything they can to fix it first."

"But if they can't…." John said slowly. "What about a transplant or something? There's a colonel who isn't going to have any need for his spleen soon. Couldn't they give that to Vic, maybe?" It was Talbot's fault that Vic was in this condition. The least he could do was to hand over an organ to fix her up!

"I've never heard about a spleen transplant before." Jemma said slowly.

"But it would be possible, at least in theory." Felix said. "There would be issues of compatibility, of course, but…." What did he have at the Sandbox that might be useful? Surely someone was playing around with something that could make a transplant feasible. If Victoria had to spend the rest of her life worrying that a cold or something minor could kill her, she would be miserable. "We would have to know bloodtypes to start with but…."

Before they could speculate more, or start planning the best way to capture Talbot and extract his spleen, the operating room doors came open, and one of the Triskelion's doctors came out.

"Director?" He said, surprised to see Fury sitting there, along with all of the other senior agents.

"Is Victoria alright?" Fury demanded as he got to his feet. How long had it been? A bit over an hour? Was that good or bad?

"Recovery. Luckily we were able to find the damage and repair it fairly quickly. She lost a good bit of blood, so we're giving her a transfusion now, but she should be fine."

"Is she awake?" Fury asked as he heard loud sighs of relief behind him.

"Between the anesthesia and the trauma from the electrical shock, I honestly don't expect her to wake up before morning. We're going to watch her in recovery for a few hours and then get her to a room. All of you might as well go home and get some rest. She won't be able to see anyone for at least another six or eight hours."

The senior agents shared a look as the doctor hurried away. Go home and go to bed. That definitely wasn't going to happen. It looked like it was chairs for them for the night.

"Skye, Fitzsimmons, Ward, go back to the BUS. There's no need for the four of you to…" Coulson started to say.

"We have sleeping bags on the bus. We'll be right back with them!" Skye grabbed the closest scientist and motioned for the others to follow her. It would be like a slumber party, only with people who could probably kill you in your sleep!


	18. Chapter 18

Something scratchy was tucked around her, and her chest hurt. Those were the first two things that Victoria felt when awareness slowly came back to her, and for a few moments she let her mind drift, debating sinking back into blissful pain-free unconsciousness once more. But then there was something moving at her side, and she blinked open her eyes.

A hospital bed. She was tucked into a hospital bed, she could only assume at the Triskelion. IV drip hooked to her right arm, and as she moved her head slightly despite the pain that even twitching caused, through her chest, she saw what had brought her fully awake, the girl from the Metro train, snuggled into bed next to her, the fingers of one hand stroking one of her red streaks in her sleep?

What was she doing here, snuggled up in bed with her? She thought Agent Carter was one of their more competent agents but obviously she had failed to get this kid checked out. Call button, didn't they have to leave a button for you to call a nurse or doctor if there was a problem? A kid who was curled up treating her like some sort of teddy bear, that had to be a serious problem. She bit her lip, tears coming to her eyes at the pain movement caused in her chest. He was a month behind on the refresher course, and he had driven the teacher for the last course he had show up for to drink, but apparently John had somehow managed to get the chest compression part of CPR right anyway. Painfully, painfully right.

She suddenly felt something cold running up her right arm, and then there was a voice. "Better?" Abby said softly as she tucked the button she had seen the nurses use during the night into Victoria's hand.

"Much better." Talking hurt, but it was a dull ache instead of a stabbing one. Whatever was in that pain pump was obviously very, very good. "Where did you come from?" Not that she could see very well without her glasses, and with her head foggy with the medicine shooting through her veins, but it did look like the little girl had been cleaned up a bit. So why hadn't whatever was wrong with her that was causing her to react the way she was, cuddling up to her instead of running in fear like every other child she had ever encountered, why hadn't they managed to fix that? And why hadn't someone thought to leave a button so she could call for help, to get someone to do their jobs and fix the kid before she got worse?

Abby smiled and snuggled up to Victoria again, being very careful not to touch any of the bad places that would hurt her. "Nice." she whispered as her fingers found the red streak and started to stroke.

Nice? Please, let her mean the hair and not…. Victoria was really frightened now, and if she didn't think she would fall flat on her face if she tried it, she would have struggled out of bed to try to summon help. Could this kid actually think SHE was nice? Something was seriously wrong! Where was a doctor or….

"Agent Hand?" A voice called from the doorway and she looked up to see a blurry figure. Fury. Not a doctor but he would have to do.

"Call a doctor now!" She ordered him in as firm a voice as she could muster when her chest was still aching and all she wanted to do was sleep again.

"Victoria?" Fury had crept out of the slumber party that Coulson's hacker had turned the lounge into, to have a long talk with Victoria about her disobeying him and falling on the third rail, but this wasn't what he had expected to find, the little girl from the train in bed with her, cuddling her, and Victoria with a look of total fear on her face.

"Something's wrong with her." Victoria said. "Something's seriously wrong with her. She said…. I think she said I was NICE! Didn't anyone check her last night?"

Nice, the kid had said Victoria was nice? But wasn't the kid supposed to be non-verbal? "How much pain medicine are they giving you?" he asked.

"Enough for the moment. I'm thinking I owe John for a few broken ribs. Anyone else?"

"Me. And when you're off that pain medicine, we're going to be having a long talk about how you disobeyed my direct order and fell onto that third rail. Nearly got yourself killed! What were you thinking?"

"That being blown up would be more painful? And that if six senior Shield agents who were right there couldn't figure out how to manage CPR and the treatment for an electric shock, maybe I was better off dead? Did we get all of the bombs?"

"Bombs were taken care of. No civilian fatalities, no civilian injuries. No injuries or fatalities on our side either. But if this ever happens again, I don't care if you think we'll know how to fix it, you're not to try a repeat of the stunt you pulled! Do you know how much I hate making funeral arrangements?"

"Not enough. You made them for Coulson and he wasn't even dead." The meds were really hitting her now, and her speech was starting to slur slightly. "Now get a doctor. Something serious is wrong with this kid."

"Something serious like her seeing the real Victoria." Fury muttered to himself, as soon as Victoria's eyes fluttered closed and she drifted into a drugged sleep once more. He probably should get a doctor, though, and find out what was going on, and why the little girl was still there instead of back with her classmates where she belonged.


	19. Chapter 19

"You weren't fussing at Vic for getting shocked, we you?" John called as he came down the hall with Felix and Jasper following him just in time to spot Fury exiting the room the doctor that had cornered had told them Vic was in. "Because it wasn't like there were a lot of options left besides getting blown up. The guy was going to let go of that switch and that would have taken out over half the tracks and tunnels, not to mention the buildings above everything. There wasn't anything else she could have done." He wasn't happy that Vic had been hurt, and he had been haunted all night by dreams of doing CPR on her, with a vastly different outcome than the one they had got, but honestly, there hadn't been another choice. Even if he hadn't been blown back, and had managed to get a shot off, it likely wouldn't have been enough to keep the switch from releasing and the bombs from going off.

"Is Victoria awake?" Jasper asked. But if she was awake, shouldn't they be hearing complaints and threats about what she would do to Glenn Talbot for breaking her rib and causing her to need emergency surgery?

"Is she alright?" Felix added. "I'm not hearing any threats to end the Talbot family line." But maybe they had her on very good pain medication that was actually relaxing her a bit?

"She was awake. In pain from the CPR and the rib Talbot broke. I'm not sure if she noticed the incision from the surgery yet." And if she hadn't, he was leaving it to the others to break the news of that little injury to her. "They have her on a drip to keep her comfortable. She fell asleep again a few minutes ago and…. Agent Carter!" He called as he spotted the agent coming down the hall, poking her heads into rooms, obviously searching for something. "Did you lose something?"

Sharon Carter cringed when she heard what the director said. He knew. He didn't know how, but he knew what had happened. Not that it was her fault, but still, Agent Hand had entrusted that little girl to her to keep safe, and now she was lost somewhere in the building. At least Sharon hoped that she was somewhere in the building! Wouldn't someone have noticed if she had tried to walk out the front door? "It's the little girl from the Metro train, Sir. The doctors checked her out when I brought her in last night and she was fine so they tucked her in a room with paper and crayons until the situation in the city was stabilized and we could get her back to the rest of her classmates. One of the nurses was checking on her, and she was curled up asleep but when Agent Hand was brought in everyone was distracted and…"

"And you lost her?" Fury said.

"It's inexcusable, I know." Sharon said with a guilty look. "We were supposed to be taking care of her, and we let her wander off. We've got everyone we could spare looking for her now, but we don't have any idea exactly when she went missing, so…."

"You lost that kid?" Vic had been willing to fall to her almost certain death to protect that little girl, and their medical staff had managed to lose her? Vic would explode when she found out, and they would probably be short a few nurses and doctors to. "I'll get Coulson and his team. She's got to be here someplace."

"She is." Fury said as he opened the door a bit, so they could see Abby, snuggled up to the sleeping Victoria, stroking her hair and smiling.

"Agent Hand." Sharon sighed and mentally kicked herself at the same time. Why hadn't she thought to check Agent Hand's room first? "I should have thought of that. The pictures she was drawing were all of her. I think she almost wore out a couple of red crayons. Do you want me to get her and take her back to her room?"

"She didn't want to go to anyone but Victoria last night." Fury said. "Wouldn't even go to Coulson and he's great with kids normally. What I want to know is why she's still here, besides the fact that we lost her? Shouldn't someone from the school have came to pick her up by now, or made arrangements to bring her to join her classmates?"

"That's another problem we have. After what happened, with the teacher accidentally losing Abby on the train, and the fact that the aide who normally is assigned to her isn't here, the school is very, very reluctant to take over supervising her again."

"So what are they planning to do? Leave her here until her parents can come and pick her up?" Jasper asked. "They do know that we're an intelligence agency, right? And that most of us probably shouldn't be allowed around small children? And that Abby doesn't like the one person here who is great with kids?"

"How long will it take her parents to get here?" Fury asked.

"And there's the third problem. Her mother is very reluctant to come here to retrieve Abby. Apparently there was some issue with her exceeding her authority by telling the school it would be fine to take her of the trip without her aide and…."

"She's not coming to get her kid?" John said. "What sort of parent didn't come and pick up their kid after they nearly got killed? Wouldn't most parents already be here, getting their kid well away from the lot of them?

"She isn't her kid though, is she? She's a foster kid." Skye said as she came down the hall. "Sorry, Agent Hill sent me to tell you that Tony Stark just called. He was saying something about how you made his girlfriend cry, and he will be here in three hours to take some of his technology back. She said you might have enough time to flee the country if you leave now. Is the little girl a foster kid?"

Sharon nodded. "Her foster mother's contacting someone at the agency that's responsible for her to find out what to do, but until then, I'm not sure what we're supposed to do with her."

"Poor kid." Skye said as she looked into the room at Abby, cuddled up on the bed. Autistic, and what was she, ten? The odds of her finding a family were probably next to zero. It just wasn't fair!


	20. Chapter 20

Just perfect. They had a kid who had been basically abandoned on their hands. Normally, this kind of thing, Fury would have handed the entire mess over to Coulson and let him get it straightened out. Kids, adults who acted like kids. Phil was great with all of that. But for some reason, this kid had latched onto Victoria who had frightened children into therapy before.

"Is there someone we could call with the city to report this?" Jasper asked.

"Whoever is supposed to be in charge of her has basically abandoned her, haven't they?" Felix said. "And without checking to make sure she's in a safe place or with people who are suitable for taking care of her." Guns, there were guns and other weapons everywhere in the building, and the little girl had shown that she was fully capable of wandering around. What if she wandered into a lab and got hurt? And that didn't even take into account the lack of qualifications on the part of pretty much every agent that he knew except for Coulson to care for a child.

"Excuse me, former foster kid talking here." Skye broke in before someone could grab a phone and try to call the DC authorities to hand Abby over. "But if you hand Abby over to DC's child protective services and whoever was supposed to be taking care of her pretty much did abandon her, so who would blame you, eventually someone from whatever agency that was in charge of her is going to show up and want her back. If DC has her, there's going to be a huge fight about what agency ought to have custody of her, and who knows where she'll end up or for how long she'll be bouncing around. Couldn't Shield hold onto her for awhile until things get worked out, so she doesn't end up bounced around everywhere? Believe me, that's no fun. Do we offer day care or something? Surely some agents have kids that need to be looked after. Or maybe we have an agent who's wanting a kid?" She poked her head in again and looked at Abby, snuggled up against Agent Hand. It was pretty obvious who her pick for a possible new parent would be. Maybe she could get AC to have a little talk with her about the joys of parenthood, and taking in older children? He kind of had experience with that, although he called his kids teammates.

"Director, I see you haven't started running yet." Maria called as she came down the hall. But why was everyone clustered outside of Victoria's room? "Is something wrong?"

"We have the small problem of an abandoned child on our hands." Fury told her. "The little girl from the Metro. Her school is afraid to take responsibility for her again because of the incident, and as she's a foster child, the foster mother's afraid to come and collect her."

"So they left her with us?" Maria said in a tone of disbelief. "That's… Someone's going to come and get her, right? It's just going to take them awhile to figure out what to do, right?"

"We don't know." Fury said.

"If they have to find a new foster home for her, with the autism and everything, it might take awhile." Skye said. "Older kids and kids with problems, and especially kids who are both, they can be really hard to place."

"I'll go and lock up the weapons rooms." Maria said, and then she stopped and her eyes went wide as she looked into the Victoria's room and spotted her, with Abby snuggled up against her. "Wait. That's the kid from the Metro? She's still okay with Victoria? And Victoria's okay with her? How many drugs did they give her after that surgery?"

"Apparently Agent Hand did something that really impressed that little girl. She drew about a million pictures of her." Sharon said. But just out of surgery, it really wasn't fair to expect her to babysit. "Maybe…."

"We could watch her." John offered. "Vic's sleeping, and you said she was in pain from everything when she was awake. If she's sleeping and comfortable, not a good idea to do something that might wake her up. The kid isn't bothering her. Why not let her stay there for awhile? We'll keep an eye on her." He knew he wasn't budging until he saw Vic awake and complaining, so he knew she would be okay, and what could Jasper and Felix have to do that might be urgent anyway? They could manage watching one kid.

John, Jasper and Felix in charge of a kid. He was sensing the potential for disaster, but they were offering, and what else was he supposed to do? "Keep an eye on her. Hopefully whoever's in charge will get their acts together and arrange to come and get her soon."

"Ill bring her paper and crayons. She seemed to like drawing. That ought to keep her entertained." Sharon said.

"Lock down the weapons rooms, and then start childproofing. I'll handle it." Maria said. "Phil knows something about kids. He can help with that." She waved for Skye to follow her as she headed back down the hall. What were those people who were supposed to be taking care of this kid thinking, basically abandoning her to them?


	21. Chapter 21

"Skye, are you sure that you ought to be stopping every agent you see and asking them if they've ever considered parenthood?" Jemma asked as they walked through the corridors, looking for potential hazards. But what really constituted a hazard for a ten year old with autism? She probably ought to look that up. "What if she has parents or family that were just having troubles and are hoping to get her back? You can't just try to give a child you know nothing about away."

"I hacked CPS." Skye said and then when Jemma glared at her, she added. "I was hoping that there might be family or something that could help, since the people who were supposed to be looking after the poor kid basically abandoned her on Shield's doorstep. Her parents died when she was two. The report wasn't totally sure but they thought it might have been murder-suicide. Abby was there when it happened, and they didn't find them for over a day afterwards. None of the family was willing to take her. They said they weren't able to deal with the autism." And she thought her background was bad, but seeing what had happened to poor little Abby, her past seemed great by comparison. Bad enough losing both parents at once, but then being trapped in a house with their bodies for over a day, and to be rejected by your surviving family on top of all of that? "We have got to find someone to take her. Surely there's someone here who's just been dying to become a parent! How many agents work here anyway? There's got to be someone who wants a kid. Ward, Fitz!" She called as she spotted them coming down the hall. "Did you do what I told you and asked people about poor Abby?"

"Skye, I'm not sure that we should be trying to give this little girl away like she's a puppy." Ward said.

"I don't know. Agent Hopkins said that it worked out for him, when his dog had puppies." Fitz said. If he could just find someone who was trying to give away a monkey, now, things would be perfect.

"It isn't like we're going to just hand her over. But if we let people know about her, surely someone will be interested in her, and might apply to take her. Or maybe they would know someone who would want her. It's like how the put kids on TV to try to find them families." She had always wanted to go on one of those programs, especially when she had been Abby's age sure that if she did, someone would see her and want her. "We have to do something besides letting the system handle this. They've had her for eight years and they haven't managed to find her a family. Do you know what will happen to her when she turns eighteen if she doesn't have a family?" And Skye wasn't even going to bring up the potential horrors the poor girl might face before then, the predators the fact she couldn't talk would make her vulnerable to. There had to be a way for them to find her a family. Sure, some foster homes were good, but it wasn't the same as having a family and belonging to someone. Abby needed that. "There has to be a way to find a family for her. Just talk to more people please? Shield saves the world every other day. Surely we can manage finding a family and saving one little girl."

"I could call Agent Weaver at the Academy." Jemma offered. "She might know of someone who would be interested in Abby."

"Someone Science or Technical would be a good fit." Fitz said with a nod. "They would probably know more about autism, and would be more equipped to deal with it. I'm sure Agent Weaver will have an idea."

"Thanks. I appreciate the help. I just don't want to see Abby going back into the system. It isn't fun there." Skye said.

"I don't know any people I would trust with a kid." Ward said. Well, his grandmother and his baby sister, but there wouldn't be a good way to send Abby to them. "But I'll keep talking to the agents. We've got to have over a thousand people in here. Surely one of them is interested in a kid, or has a relative or a friend who might be interested in adoption."

"Thanks." Skye said as her friends hurried away, and she continued down the hall. A family. They just needed a family, one person would be enough to make a good family. It didn't have to big a big one. It just had to be the right one. She just wished she knew of a way to get Abby the family that it looked like the little girl wanted so much. But would it even be possible to convince Agent Hand to give parenthood a chance? Surely there was some way to try. For some reason, Abby had instantly bonded to Agent Hand, and the maybe she would be good for the senior agent if she was willing to give it a chance? Now where was AC? He liked kids. Surely he could come up with a way to convince Agent Hand to at least think about taking Abby!

Her chest hurt and she was being watched. Victoria could feel eyes on her, and then she felt something stir in the bed beside her, causing her eyes to blink open. John, Jasper and Felix were in chairs circling her bed, and the little girl was still there, snuggled against her, stroking her hair. "I told Fury to have someone check her. Why didn't he have someone check her and fix what's wrong with her?" Victoria demanded, and then winced as talking made the pain in her chest worse.

John winced himself, knowing that part of Vic's pain was due to the chest compressions and the damage that had caused. Yeah, it had been necessary, and it had kept blood and oxygen going to her brain until they could bring her back, but still he knew all too well how much it hurt afterwards if the person doing the compressions got it right, and he hated that he had caused her that pain, even if it had been to save her life. Wasn't she supposed to be on some sort of medicine for the pain? But before he could move, the little girl was tapping Victoria's hand, reminding her of the button for the pain medicine she was holding.

Victoria let out a soft sigh as she felt the cold relief rushing up her arm again. She knew she would be pulled under again in a few minutes, but before the drugs took effect…. "Why hasn't someone done something to fix whatever's wrong with her?" Victoria demanded. "And John, I hope that you don't expect me to write you a note, letting the instructor know that you obviously still know CPR and don't need to take a refresher course."

"I called. I called. I'm already signed up for the class." John told her. "Vic, don't ever do that again. I thought I was going to have a heart attack. Don't ever do that again!"

"It was either get shocked or get blown up. At least I thought there was an even chance the shock would be fixable. Even if the closest person keeps skipping the recertification classes, and drove the teacher to drink when he did show up." She could feel the meds pulling her down, but…. "Why is she still here?" Her vision was blurred and she hoped that someone hadn't misplaced her glasses, but the little girl did seem physically okay the more she looked at her. So why was she here, and not with her classmates or on her way back home? "She shouldn't be here. Why hasn't someone got her back to where she belongs?" And why was this kid still cuddling up to her and treating her like a big teddy bear?

"They ran into a few problems when it came to getting her back to her class." Jasper said. "The school got scared because of what happened on the train, and since they don't have a person to handle keeping an eye on Abby and no one else, they were afraid to take her back."

"The school abandoned her?" First the teacher lost her on a train, and then the school abandoned her? "I hope someone is reporting this school. When are her parents going to be here to get her?"

"That's problem two." Felix said. "It turns out Abby's a foster child and her current foster mother probably exceeded her authority in authorizing her to go on the trip without an aide. So now she doesn't feel comfortable coming to get her."

"Are you telling me that this child has been basically abandoned on Shield's doorstep?" And that blissful feeling resulting from the pain meds was gone, and Victoria was suddenly wide awake and looking over at Abby in horror. She had been abandoned? How could…. "Get Fury in here! I want to know what he's doing to fix this now!"


	22. Chapter 22

"Vic, careful!" John caught her before she could try to sit up. Obviously the shock of finding out that someone had actually been insane enough to abandon a kid to their custody had sent any sedation from the pain meds out of her head. And it had apparently got rid of any effect they had had on her level of pain, too, because she bit her lip and he could swear that he was seeing tears that she was trying to blink back in her eyes. "Don't move, okay? You're going to pull your stitches or whatever they put in last night to patch you up."

"Stitches?" Felix fumbled with the bed and raised the head a bit so she could sit up without having to move herself, and she could feel something pulling on her left side. Her hand moved, reaching out carefully to touch the area she could feel pulling and throbbing before one of them could stop her. Bandages on her left side just below the rib cage. What had happened to her that had resulted in her needing bandages and apparently stitches if John could be believed? "What happened?"

"Broken rib nicked your spleen. They had to go in and repair it. And it wasn't from the CPR." John said quickly before she could decide he was to blame and hurt herself worse, trying to hit him.

"Talbot." But she could deal with him later, when her body wasn't hurting so much, and when she didn't have an abandoned child curled up next to her in bed to worry about. What was Fury thinking, leaving the little girl here with apparently only John, Felix and Jasper to supervise her? Felix got distracted by a cup of coffee, John could forget about anything else when he went off on one of his wild and very child inappropriate stories, and Jasper, well, she was sure that he would find something that would be a distraction too. What was Fury thinking, leaving this little girl here with only those three for supervision? Didn't he remember that they were in a major base with weapons everywhere? She felt a cold chill, and then increased pain in response to the movement as she thought about what could have happened. "Why is she in here? If the idiots who are responsible for her have abandoned her to Shield's very, very dubious care, why hasn't Fury had her taken somewhere safe, where some responsible person can look after her until things get worked out?" Abandoned. Victoria looked over at Abby and anger washed over her. How could the people who were supposed to be taking care of her just abandon her? And to abandon her without making sure she was safe, or with people who had a clue about how to take care of kids?

"She seems to like you." John said. "She was happy there, it didn't seem like a good idea to try to move her. We watched her. Nothing happened."

"Nothing happened. Someone should probably call the pope and alert him that a major miracle just happened, with the three of you watching a child and it not ending in disaster." Victoria looked down at Abby, searching for any signs of harm or trauma from being left under the dubious supervision of John, Felix and Jasper for who knows how long. She bit her lip again as another wave of pain washed over her. Until someone responsible showed up, there was no way she could risk taking more of the pain medicine though. Someone had to protect the poor child and even with broken ribs and a fresh surgical incision, it looked like she was going to have to manage that job.

Abby reached out and patted the hand holding the button for the pain medicine. Was it broke? Her friend was hurting, but wasn't the medicine the button released supposed to make her feel better? It made her feel better before, so why wasn't it now? It had to be broken. Abby curled up closer to Victoria and patted her hand again, while the other hand stroked her hair frantically. Hurting. She was hurting! Why weren't they doing something to fix her? Her first mama hurt, and she fell down, and no one could fix her. What if she lost this mama too? She just found her and she felt so absolutely right and safe! She didn't want to lose another mama! Please don't let her lose another mama when she had just finally found her! It hurt to look at people, but she turned her eyes and glared in the general direction of the trio who weren't fixing things for a moment, before burying her head against Victoria's shoulder. She just found a mama. Please, please let her be okay!

What was wrong with this kid? Victoria's shoulder was suddenly wet with silent tears and it was easy to see that Abby was terrified, but why in the world was she clinging to her if she was finally scared, instead of running away like every other kid had done? "Get a doctor in here now!" she ordered the other senior agents. Something was wrong. Something absolutely had to be wrong!

"I don't think anything's wrong with her." Jasper said. Although how in the world had she learned to glare? Okay, it wasn't a perfect glare and was only aimed in their general direction instead of right at them, but still, she had known Victoria for what, twelve hours, and Victoria had been unconscious for most of that time. Abby had to be a fast, fast learner!

"I think she's worried about you." John said. "She can tell you're hurting, and she doesn't know it's just because you're being stubborn about taking the pain medicine."

"If I take the medicine, I'll go to sleep. And the three of you will lose her. And she'll get hurt! What was Fury thinking, leaving all of you in charge of a child?" Victoria demanded. Really, did Fury want something horrible to happen to poor Abby? No, she could not risk medication, not while she was the most responsible person in the room, and the only one she even vaguely trusted to look after the poor kid. And she didn't even trust herself much. The pain in her chest was slowly getting worse, but no, she was absolutely not taking anything that would knock her out. Then Abby would be alone, defenseless and doomed!

"Victoria, look at her." Felix said quietly. "Do you think she's actually going to budge from your side, even if we did happen to do the horrible job of watching her that you seem to think we are going to do? And I resent the notion that I can't watch one little girl. John, I could see why you might have concerns about him, but what have Jasper and I done that is so irresponsible?"

"Coffee. I have seen how you are with coffee and Jasper…. You keep evil company. I'm sure they'll lead you into distraction somehow. I am not going to sleep and leaving you to lose this child. Bad enough that the people who are supposed to be taking care of her have abandoned her to our dubious care. I am not…." But there was suddenly the familiar cold feeling of the pain medicine rushing up her arm and she turned her head to see that the button controlling the medicine had slipped from her hand without her noticing, and John had picked it up. "You did not just do that!" Already she could feel herself being pulled under though. "You're going to lose her! Abby?" Her eyes were slipping shut but she grabbed for the girl with one hand and pulled her close. "Stay here. Don't move, no matter what they say." She ordered as firmly as she could before she slipped into a drugged sleep once more.

"You are aware you're going to die when she wakes up, right?"" Jasper said. "And that can't hurt her can it, two doses so close together?"

"I don't think those things will dispense anything over the safe dosage for a certain timeframe." Felix said. "They just split the dose into parts that are dispensed every time you click the button. She is going to kill you,though. I hope you have a will."

"It was either that or leave her in pain. And leave the kid to freak out because Vic was hurting and being stubborn. Hey." He risked reaching out and lightly touching Abby's shoulder. "She's okay. She's going to be fine." Poor kid. She really was scared, but who could blame her? Seeing Vic like that, if he didn't know her personality, it would probably frighten him too. As it was, it hadn't felt good, seeing her hurting, even if it was due to her own stubbornness and thinking they couldn't manage watching one kid.

"You know, Coulson's hacker has been asking everyone she sees if they might be interested in taking Abby." Jasper said, showing them a text message he had got from Agent Reese on the subject. "Think one of us ought to find her and let her know that Abby's already picked the potential parent she wants?"


End file.
